Azrieli Music Prizes name three composers as 2028 laureates
Luis Arias, Linda Bouchard and Mathew Rosenblum will create new chamber works, each supported by a prize package worth more than CAD $250,000.
The Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre has announced the three laureates of the 2028 Azrieli Music Prizes, the biennial composition awards established by the Azrieli Foundation.
Spanish composer Luis Arias receives the Commission for International Music, Canadian composer Linda Bouchard the Commission for Canadian Music, and American composer Mathew Rosenblum the Commission for Jewish Music. Announced on 3 November, the awards will support new works for chamber ensembles of up to 15 musicians, with optional soloists.
Each composer receives CAD50,000 and a wider package including a world premiere by Montréal’s Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne at the prizes’ gala concert in autumn 2028, two subsequent international performances and a commercial studio recording.
‘Each of these exceptional composers offers a fresh perspective on their respective Prize theme,’ said Sharon Azrieli, who founded the prizes in 2014.
The three proposed works draw on contrasting experiences of cultural memory and identity. Rosenblum’s Tamim (Simplicity) will combine mezzo-soprano, chamber ensemble, re-tuned instruments and recordings of his grandmother singing traditional Yiddish and Ukrainian folk melodies. The 15-minute work will weave those archival voices into a microtonal musical texture.
Bouchard’s Le Saguenay, Saki-nip will explore Québec’s Saguenay Fjords, her family’s connections to the region and early encounters between Innu communities and French explorers. Scored for 15 instrumentalists, the work will connect historical and personal perspectives through expansive ensemble writing and intimate string dialogues.
Arias’s Optimized for Loneliness will examine how digital media reshape the experience of Andalusian Holy Week processions. Written for a 15-player ensemble and fixed media, the piece will move between collective intensity and solitude, reflecting the fragmentation of shared rituals into online clips.
The centre also announced plans to reshape its separate Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, which recognises an existing composition. Its renewed focus will be on recovering significant Jewish works that have been lost, overlooked or historically suppressed, particularly those connected to the Holocaust. Further details are expected in early 2027.