Celebrating Composers, Elevating Careers, Creating Harmony

Would you tell us about the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) and how they express the values of the Azrieli Foundation?

The Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) celebrate excellent composers, the best in the world. We give them the resources to imagine new works, elevating and advancing their careers in the process. I created the Azrieli Music Prizes for the Azrieli Foundation in 2014. I’m proud to say that AMP is now Canada’s largest competition devoted to music composition and one of the most substantial in the world.

AMP’s four prize packages are The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, The Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music and the Azrieli Commission for International Music. Each Laureate receives a cash award of CAD 50,000; a world-premiere performance, two subsequent international performances; and a professional recording of their prize-winning work.

Each biennial cycle of AMP’s four music prizes focuses on an instrumentation category. The 2024 cycle centers on choral works for a cappella choir and up to four additional instruments and/or vocal soloist.

We’re at a thrilling point in our current AMP cycle. We’ll be presenting the premiere performances of our 2024 Laureates’ prize-winning works by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Chorus at the AMP Gala Concert on October 28, 2024 in Montréal. 

AMP reflects the belief that music is a vital human endeavour creating greater intercultural understanding, a value which animates the work of both the Azrieli Foundation and the newly created Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre (AMACC).

How – and why – does AMP support choral music in particular? 

For each biennial cycle, AMP focuses on a different instrumentation. In 2024, AMP Laureates are premiering a cappella compositions for up to 48 singers and up to four soloists and/or instrumentalists.

Sharon Azrieli speaks at the launch of the Azrieli Music, Arts, and Culture Centre, which administers the Azrieli Music Prizes.

What should the choral community know about this year’s Azrieli Music Prize winners? What do you find exciting about their prize-winning music?

Our 2024 Laureates were selected for showing the most creativity, artistry, technical proficiency, and professional expertise in response to the guidelines for choral compositions. They’ve composed incredible choral works exploring meaningful histories and ideas.

For example, in his The Parable of the Palace, Yair Klartag (2024 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music) draws on medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides’s famous parable to investigate the limits of logic and reason in explaining reality and the metaphysical. 

Josef Bardanashvili’s Light to My Path, a choral fantasy for mixed choir, saxophone, percussion and piano (2024 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music) addresses the various states of belief – supplication, ecstasy, doubt, gratitude – outlined in the Book of Psalms.

Jordan Nobles’s Kanata (2024 Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music) pays tribute to the Canadian landscape inspired by his travels across the country.

Juan Trigos’s Simetrías Prehispánicas (our first-ever Azrieli Commission for International Music) – a Canata-Oratorio for choir and ensemble – honours the pre-Hispanic culture of his native Mexico, incorporating text by anonymous and major Aztec poets from the 15th century.

Tell us about the journey of these works through AMP's two-year cycle.

Laureate Yotam Haber said “AMP may very well be the most exciting, brilliantly engineered opportunity for a composer.” Our two-year cycle is designed to advance laureates’ careers and extend the life and reach of their prize-winning works.

We’ve found the best way to achieve this is by giving our Laureates time to create and surrounding them with an encouraging community to support them in composing the best pieces possible.

We begin with the premiere in Montréal, and then arrange two international showcases. These give our Laureates maximum career building exposure in critical international markets. Each Laureate also receives a professional commercial recording release of their work. Furthermore, the AMP Performance Fund stimulates professional performances of AMP-winning works worldwide.

How will this new music that is created as a result of AMP live on? What are your hopes for its impact on the communities that AMP and AMACC serve?

Immediately, AMP prize winning works connect with people worldwide through our AMP networks. We’re approaching our fifth album release, and we continue to present AMP concerts worldwide. We have streamed AMP performances to millions of people in over 190 countries. We have supported dozens of independent performances of our Laureates’ works around the world.

Furthermore, in a world where the majority of music competitions center on performers, we’ve seen composers receive a tremendous boost in their career through winning an Azrieli Music Prize. Keiko Devaux, the first recipient of the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music, was awarded a JUNO for her Arras (for fourteen musicians). Avner Dorman’s Nigumin for solo violin and orchestra, which received the 2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, has since been performed in Warsaw, Prague, Berlin, New York City, and Toronto. Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires is slated to perform it in Buenos Aires this coming season.

I talked a little before about how AMACC is guided by the principle that music and the arts allow us to express our creativity, expand our understanding, and enrich our lives. Through AMP, we’re continuing to see music serve as a platform for peaceful relations and a method for creating harmony not just for our ears but for our souls.

What will be the future opportunities for choral composers – and/or other types of choral leaders?

In 2026, AMP will focus on works for choir, orchestra and soloists. Stay tuned! The application process will open early in 2025.

The world premieres of the 2024 Laureates will be presented at the Azrieli Music Prizes' Gala Concert, October 28, 7:30pm EDT at the Maison symphonique de Montréal, and livestreamed on Medici TV. To learn more about the Gala Concert, and to find information about the next AMP cycle for choral-orchestral compositions in 2025, visit the Azrieli Music Prizes website.

This article is sponsored by the Azrieli Music Prizes. Thank you for supporting the partners that make Chorus America’s work possible. If you are interested in learning more about sponsored articles, please contact us at mike@chorusamerica.org.