The Azrieli Foundation announced today the three composers who will receive commissions for works in anticipation of the Azrieli Music Prizes. The award-winning compositions will be presented at a gala concert in the fall of 2028, and performed by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) under the direction of Jean-Michaël Lavoie, the partner for this edition.
CHECK OUT THE REVIEW OF THE GALA CONCERT 2026 HELD ON OCTOBER 15 AT THE MONTREAL SYMPHONIC HOUSE
The three winners are:
Linda Bouchard – Azrieli Canadian Music Commission 2028: Le Saguenay, Saki-nip
The composer will present Le Saguenay, Saki-nip, a majestic portrait of the Saguenay fjord, also inspired by the relationships between the French settlers and the Innu in the 17th century. Bouchard says she draws inspiration from the impressions left by the book Le peuple rieur by Simon Bouchard and Marie-Christine Lévesque, which precisely recounts this friendly and peaceful relationship. In an interview during the unveiling of the winners, Ms. Bouchard said she wanted to create metallic, coppery textures to reflect the radiant grandeur of Saguenay.
Mathew Rosenblum – Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music 2028: Tamim (Simplicity)
The American Rosenblum will present Tamim (Simplicity), a memory work that will include recordings of his grandmother singing or speaking about her life in Ukrainian and Yiddish. Through, also, sound artefacts related to his grandmother’s homeland (Ukraine), and a mezzo-soprano voice, it is the themes of migration, loss, and identity that Rosenblum will explore, also making the mezzo-soprano score a relay of his own identity as a composer and human being from a family that experienced exile.
Luis Arias – Azrieli Commission for International Music 2028: Optimised for Loneliness
Arias will compose Optimised for Loneliness, a reflection on how contemporary digital mediation transforms the perception and memory of traditional Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions in Andalusia. Arias remembers that, as a young boy, he enjoyed listening to the brass bands that played during these processions. He wanted to imitate them and do as the marching musicians did. Today, he questions the fact that the new generations observe these events as inherently unifying and collective, in their individual bubbles, connected via Instagram or other social networks.
The fourth prize usually awarded, the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, which is not a commission but rather the interpretation of an existing work, will change its format. The obligation to choose a work created in the last 75 years by a living composer is over. The focus will instead shift to rewarding a work of Jewish music from the past, regardless of the year, emphasising neglected composers or works forgotten or obscured by History. The focus will be on discovery and historical research. The winning piece has not yet been chosen. Another change: the selected work will have its own concert, to further emphasise its importance.
