Broadway World: The Azrieli Foundation And Analekta Release NEW JEWISH MUSIC, VOL. 4 - AZRIELI MUSIC PRIZES
The Azrieli Foundation is pleased to announce the October 6th release of New Jewish Music, Vol. 4 - Azrieli Music Prizes on Analekta. The album features the world-premiere recordings of three prize-winning works by the 2022 Azrieli Music Prizes Laureates Iman Habibi (2022 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music), Aharon Harlap (2022 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music) and Rita Ueda (2022 Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music). These works are brought vividly to life by the Orchestre Métropolitain under the direction of Artistic Partner Nicolas Ellis.
Broadway World
By Chloe Rabinowitz
The Azrieli Foundation is pleased to announce the October 6th release of New Jewish Music, Vol. 4 - Azrieli Music Prizes on Analekta. The album features the world-premiere recordings of three prize-winning works by the 2022 Azrieli Music Prizes Laureates Iman Habibi (2022 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music), Aharon Harlap (2022 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music) and Rita Ueda (2022 Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music). These works are brought vividly to life by the Orchestre Métropolitain under the direction of Artistic Partner Nicolas Ellis.
Read more here.
OperaWire: Canada’s Azrieli Foundation Introduces the Azrieli Music, Arts, and Culture Center
The Canadian Azrieli Foundation, known for its annual music competition and dedication to the arts, has announced the establishment of the Azrieli Music, Arts, and Culture Center (AMACC).
The creation of the Center comes after reviewing a decade of its arts support, signaling an expanded commitment from the Foundation.
AMACC reflects the Foundation’s goal to provide consistent backing as a funder and partnership as a collaborator to Canada’s art and culture community.
OperaWire
By Chris Ruel
The Canadian Azrieli Foundation, known for its annual music competition and dedication to the arts, has announced the establishment of the Azrieli Music, Arts, and Culture Center (AMACC).
The creation of the Center comes after reviewing a decade of its arts support, signaling an expanded commitment from the Foundation.
AMACC reflects the Foundation’s goal to provide consistent backing as a funder and partnership as a collaborator to Canada’s art and culture community.
The Foundation’s Azrieli Music Competition has grown to become the largest composition competition in Canada, with commissions awarded for Jewish, Canadian, and international compositions.
In an official press statement, Dr. Sharon Azrieli said, “By uniting our grant-making, sector collaborations, strategic initiatives, and Azrieli Music Prizes program under the AMACC banner, we will create an impact that is greater than the sum of its parts, ensuring more Canadians of all ages enjoy a deeper relationship with the arts.”
Read more here.
Photo Credit: Danylo Bobyk
Violin Channel: 2024 Azrieli Music Prizes Now Accepting Applications
For its fifth competition, AMP is seeking scores and proposals for a cappella choral works
Established in 2014, the Canada-based Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) is comprised of four categories: The Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music, The Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, and the inaugural Azrieli Commission for International Music.
The latter category is new to the competition and invites composers worldwide "to creatively engage with the richness of humanity’s diverse cultural heritage," according to AMP.
The 2024 competition is seeking submissions for a cappella choral works that will match the force of its Performance Partner, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Chorus (OSM Chorus), including up to four additional instruments and/or soloists.
Violin Channel
For its fifth competition, AMP is seeking scores and proposals for a cappella choral works
Established in 2014, the Canada-based Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) is comprised of four categories: The Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music, The Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, and the inaugural Azrieli Commission for International Music.
The latter category is new to the competition and invites composers worldwide "to creatively engage with the richness of humanity’s diverse cultural heritage," according to AMP.
The 2024 competition is seeking submissions for a cappella choral works that will match the force of its Performance Partner, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Chorus (OSM Chorus), including up to four additional instruments and/or soloists.
Open to the international music community, AMP accepts nominations for works from individuals and institutions of all ages, genders, nationalities, faiths, and backgrounds.
Read more here.
Blogcritics: Concert Review (NYC): The Knights and Lara St. John with Music of Avner Dorman and Felix Mendelssohn at the Central Park Bandshell
The meat of the program commenced when Lara St. John stepped in front of the white-clad orchestra. Nigunim is a violin concerto rooted in melodies inspired by Jewish songs from around the world. The piece won the Azrieli Prize in 2018. In a recent interview with Blogcritics the composer told us that in writing it he created new melodies inspired by “listening to music from Jewish communities around the world, recalling music I had heard from different diasporas, and internalizing the styles and gestures. I also analyzed these melodies and found some surprising commonalities.”
Blogcritics
By Jon Sobel
The organizers of the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts could hardly have asked for a nicer evening for The Knights and violinist Lara St. John to present the New York Premiere of Avner Dorman’s Nigunim. The darkening sky turned rose-red and aqua blue as the audience heard a spectacular performance of the virtuosic concerto and an invigorating reading of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”).
Around the World in Four Movements
The meat of the program commenced when Lara St. John stepped in front of the white-clad orchestra. Nigunim is a violin concerto rooted in melodies inspired by Jewish songs from around the world. The piece won the Azrieli Prize in 2018. In a recent interview with Blogcritics the composer told us that in writing it he created new melodies inspired by “listening to music from Jewish communities around the world, recalling music I had heard from different diasporas, and internalizing the styles and gestures. I also analyzed these melodies and found some surprising commonalities.”
Read more here.
Photo: Oren Hope Media
Violin Channel: Dr. Sharon Azrieli on the Azrieli Music Prizes Competition
The Violin Channel recently sat down with Dr Azrieli, the visionary behind the Azrieli Music Prizes, the Azrieli Foundation Board Director, and the Board Liaison on the Azrieli Music Prizes Advisory Council.
Can you tell us about the Azrieli Foundation? When was it founded and what is its core mission?
Founded over 30 years ago by my father, David Azrieli, the Azrieli Foundation takes a thoughtful and creative approach to philanthropy.
The Violin Channel
The Violin Channel recently sat down with Dr Azrieli, the visionary behind the Azrieli Music Prizes, the Azrieli Foundation Board Director, and the Board Liaison on the Azrieli Music Prizes Advisory Council.
Can you tell us about the Azrieli Foundation? When was it founded and what is its core mission?
Founded over 30 years ago by my father, David Azrieli, the Azrieli Foundation takes a thoughtful and creative approach to philanthropy.
We believe that courageous forward-thinking, strategic collaborations and community leadership are the keys to creating positive outcomes for present and future generations.
We aim to make a significant difference in several areas of importance, including music, arts and culture; scientific and medical research; educational empowerment; architecture and design; Holocaust commemoration and education; and quality of life initiatives for people with developmental disabilities. It’s a broad and bold approach to philanthropy that makes a measurable positive impact year after year.
Read more here.
Toronto Star: Azrieli Foundation conducts a new approach to launching its prize-winning composers
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven? You know what they do. What about Keiko Devaux, Yotam Haber and Yitzhak Yedid? Actually, they do the same: they are composers. Only they are still alive and relatively unknown.
That is where the Azrieli Foundation comes in. Like philanthropic enterprises elsewhere, the Montreal-based foundation has undertaken a mission to discover and celebrate creative talent in music.
Established in 2014 and awarded biennially, the Azrieli Music Prizes are, at a total value of $200,000 each — including a commissioning prize, a gala concert, national premier and recording for release — the largest in Canada to be awarded to composers.
Toronto Star
William Littler
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven? You know what they do. What about Keiko Devaux, Yotam Haber and Yitzhak Yedid? Actually, they do the same: they are composers. Only they are still alive and relatively unknown.
That is where the Azrieli Foundation comes in. Like philanthropic enterprises elsewhere, the Montreal-based foundation has undertaken a mission to discover and celebrate creative talent in music.
Established in 2014 and awarded biennially, the Azrieli Music Prizes are, at a total value of $200,000 each — including a commissioning prize, a gala concert, national premier and recording for release — the largest in Canada to be awarded to composers.
Read more here.
The New York Times: Whispers of an Italian-Jewish Past Fill Yotam Haber’s Music
Since early in his career, Yotam Haber has grappled with what it means to be a contemporary Jewish composer. The tentative answers offered by his music — full of allusions, distortion and whispers of the past — suggest that the grappling itself is a vital part of that identity.
The New York Times
Thomas May
Yotam Haber’s “Estro Poetico-armonico III” combines live singing with archival recordings of cantors.
Since early in his career, Yotam Haber has grappled with what it means to be a contemporary Jewish composer. The tentative answers offered by his music — full of allusions, distortion and whispers of the past — suggest that the grappling itself is a vital part of that identity.
Mr. Haber’s most recent work, “Estro Poetico-armonico III,” which juxtaposes a live mezzo-soprano and orchestra with decades-old recordings of Italian Jewish cantorial singing, dramatizes a subtle dialogue between creation and tradition. One of three composers to receive the Azrieli Foundation’s music prizes for 2020, Mr. Haber wrote the piece to fulfill the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music.
Read more here.
The Azrieli Foundation Announces Calls for Proposals for New Performance Fund
UPDATE: The deadline for proposals has been extended to May 1, 2020.
The Azrieli Foundation is delighted to announce a new funding stream within its Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) program. The annual Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund (AMP-PF) supports professional music ensembles in preparing and presenting public performances of Azrieli Music Prize-winning works. The Foundation is currently accepting proposals from professional orchestras world-wide that plan to perform the AMP winning works in their 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.
UPDATE: The deadline for proposals has been extended to May 1, 2020.
The Azrieli Foundation is delighted to announce a new funding stream within its Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) program. The annual Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund (AMP-PF) supports professional music ensembles in preparing and presenting public performances of Azrieli Music Prize-winning works. The Foundation is currently accepting proposals from professional orchestras world-wide that plan to perform the AMP winning works in their 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.
With a firm belief in the extraordinary quality of Azrieli Music Prize-winning works, the AMP-PF has been established to provide new opportunities for professional music ensembles to share these powerful works with their audiences. Until May 1, orchestras may submit a proposal requesting support ranging from $5,000 CAD to $25,000 CAD to help cover the costs of: score and parts rental; soloist fees; additional rehearsal time to prepare the AMP-winning works; augmented concert promotions; and attendance of AMP Laureates at the rehearsals and the concert of their winning work.
AMP-PF currently calls for performance proposals that feature winning works from the 2016 and 2018 editions, detailed below. Submissions are limited to one proposal per music ensemble per year. The 2020 AMP-winning works will be made available for Performance Fund support with the 2021 call for proposals.
The Seven Heavenly Halls for tenor solo, mixed choir and orchestra by Brian Current (2016 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music)
Klezmer Clarinet Concerto for solo clarinet and orchestra by Wlad Marhulets (2016 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music)
En el escuro es todo uno (In the Darkness, All is One) for solo cello, solo harp and orchestra by Kelly-Marie Murphy (2018 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music)
Nigunim (Violin Concerto No. 2) for solo violin and orchestra by Avner Dorman (2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music)
Established in 2014, the biennial Azrieli Music Prizes express the Azrieli Foundation’s belief in music as a vital endeavour that enables people to express their creativity; to expand their worldview; and to foster positive cultural exchanges. Open to the international music community, scores and proposals for future AMP works are encouraged from individuals and institutions of all nationalities, faiths, backgrounds and affiliations. Two prizes recognize excellence in new Jewish music – the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music and the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music – and a third new prize commissions music from Canadian composers. Past prize winners include Avner Dorman (2018), Kelly-Marie Murphy (2018), Brian Current (2016), and Wlad Marhulets (2016). Announced in November 2019, the three winners of the 2020 Azrieli Music Prizes are Yitzhak Yedid (Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music), Yotam Haber (Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music), and Keiko Devaux (Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music).
AMP-PF Funds will be allocated on an annual basis to professional music ensembles though a competitive selection process overseen by the Azrieli Music Prizes Advisory Council. Those proposals that exhibit the highest levels of artistic merit, thematic fit with the Azrieli Music Prizes’ objectives and the capacity to execute the proposed concert will succeed in the competition.
Proposals must be received by Friday, May 1, 2020 (previous deadline was Friday, April 10, 2020) and are accepted via email at music@azrielifoundation.org. Applicants should review eligibility criteria and proposal requirements at https://azrielifoundation.org/our-priorities/music-arts/amp/performance-fund. The AMP Advisory Council anticipates making decisions concerning which ensembles/proposals will receive AMP-PF support by approximately mid-June 2020. Successful applicants will be notified by the Foundation’s Manager, Music Initiatives.
About The Azrieli Foundation
One of the largest philanthropic foundations in Canada and in Israel, the Azrieli Foundation fulfills the philanthropic legacy of David J. Azrieli and has been funding institutions as well as operating programs since 1989. Driven by a strong belief in the powerful role and responsibility of philanthropy, the foundation empowers and supports a broad range of organizations in its eight priority funding areas: Music & the Arts, Education, Fellowships, Community, Holocaust Education & Legacy, Science, Research & Healthcare, Neurodevelopment, and Architecture, Design & Engineering. Its activities reach a diversity of people, places and needs.
Through the Azrieli Music Initiatives (AMI), the Foundation is committed to discovering, elevating and amplifying artistic voices, granting broad access to meaningful musical experiences that both exhibit artistic excellence and advance a shared pursuit of learning and wellness. AMI creates meaningful and practical realizations of the Foundation’s mission to improve the lives of present and future generations.
Ludwig van: Azrieli Foundation Announces New Call For Proposals From Orchestras
The Azrieli Foundation has announced a call for proposals for a brand new funding stream within its Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) program.
The Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund (AMP-PF) is a new and annual funding stream that offers support for professional ensembles to prepare and perform works that have won the Azrieli Music Prize. Orchestras that receive funding would perform the AMP winning works in their 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.
Ludwig Van
Anya Wassenberg
The Azrieli Foundation has announced a call for proposals for a brand new funding stream within its Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) program.
The Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund (AMP-PF) is a new and annual funding stream that offers support for professional ensembles to prepare and perform works that have won the Azrieli Music Prize. Orchestras that receive funding would perform the AMP winning works in their 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.
According to a media release, the AMP-PF has been established to provide performance opportunities for the works that have won the Azrieli Music Prize, representing an important next step for new compositions.
The Foundation is accepting proposals from orchestras to request support ranging from $5,000 CAD to $25,000 CAD. The funding is intended to help orchestras with the nuts and bolts of preparing for a performance, including score rentals, soloist fees, rehearsal time, and promotions. Funding can also be requested in order to host the AMP Laureates at the concerts of their own prize-winning works.
To read more about AMP’s new call for proposals, click here.
The Canadian Jewish News: Azrieli Prize Winners Explore Diversity of Jewish Music
Yotam Haber, a Dutch-born composer who’s based in New Orleans, is the recipient of the 2020 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, the organization announced on Nov. 7. The winner of the 2020 AMP for the best new major work of Jewish music is Yitzhak Yedid, an Israeli-born Australian. For the first time, a third AMP winner was selected this year for the new Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music (not with a Jewish theme). It goes to Keiko Devaux, a composer of music for ensembles, dance and film, who’s currently completing a doctorate in composition at UdeM.
The Canadian Jewish News
Janice Arnold
The distinct musical tradition of the Jews of Rome, who trace their lineage back to their dispersal after the Second Temple’s destruction, will be revived in a new composition that’s being written by the latest winner of a $50,000 commission from the Azrieli Foundation.
Yotam Haber, a Dutch-born composer who’s based in New Orleans, is the recipient of the 2020 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music, the organization announced on Nov. 7.
His work-in-progress will receive its premiere at the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) concert on Oct. 22, 2020, at Salle Pierre Mercure in Montreal, performed by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, a chamber orchestra in residence at the Université de Montréal (UdeM).
The winner of the 2020 AMP for the best new major work of Jewish music is Yitzhak Yedid, an Israeli-born Australian. The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music also carries a $50,000 cash award.
His “Kiddushim Ve’ Killulim” (“Blessings and Curses”) for voice and ensemble had its debut in 2017. The AMP jury hailed the piece for its unconventional synthesis of ancient religious musical sources with contemporary Western music.
For the first time, a third AMP winner was selected this year for the new Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music (not with a Jewish theme). It goes to Keiko Devaux, a composer of music for ensembles, dance and film, who’s currently completing a doctorate in composition at UdeM.
To read more about the 2020 winners and their works, click here.