The Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre (AMACC) has announced the four laureates of the 2026 Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP).

Georgian-Israeli composer Hana Ajiashvili earned the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music for her 2022 work “Riddle,” a setting of Yehuda Halevi’s poetry exploring persecution and resilience.

Meanwhile, American composer and thereminist Dalit Hadass Warshaw won the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music for “Letter From Across the River,” a reflection on her family’s wartime history in Poland.

Canadian cellist-composer Nicholas Denton Protsack received the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music for “Height of Land,” a meditation on environmental renewal.

Finally, Romanian-Ukrainian composer Adrian Mocanu was awarded the Azrieli Commission for International Music for “de l’encra escafada,” inspired by the lost songs of the medieval trobairitz.

“The Azrieli Music Prizes were designed to identify exceptional composers and support them in creating future masterworks,” said Dr. Sharon Azrieli CQ. “We give them every resource to create great music and bring it to global audiences. Beyond the premiere, we champion their compositions for continued success.”

Established in 2014 by Azrieli CQ for the Azrieli Foundation, the biennial prizes celebrate excellence in music composition and represent the most substantial awards of their kind in Canada. Each laureate receives a CAD 250,000 prize package, including a CAD 50,000 cash award, a premiere with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and OSM Chorus conducted by Asher Fisch at the AMP Gala Concert on October 15, 2026, two international performances, and a commercial recording featuring the OSM.

This year’s prize cycle focused on works for choir with orchestra and optional soloists, selected by three international juries of composers, musicologists, conductors, and producers.

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