The Azrieli Foundation has announced four composers as laureates of Canada’s 2026 Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP), one of the world’s most significant composition awards.

Established in 2014 by Dr Sharon Azrieli, the biennial prizes celebrate excellence in new music and offer one of the largest prize packages in global composition, valued at more than CAD $250,000 per laureate.

From top left clockwise: Nicholas Denton Protsack, Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Adrian Mocanu and Hana Ajiashvili. Photos supplied

Georgian-Israeli composer Hana Ajiashvili has won the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music for Riddle (2022), a work that sets mediaeval verse by poet Yehuda Halevi in a reflection on persecution and resilience.

The Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music goes to New York-based composer, pianist and theremin player Dalit Hadass Warshaw, whose proposed work Letter From Across the River recounts a family story of loss and courage in wartime Poland.

The Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music has been awarded to New Zealand-based Canadian composer Nicholas Denton Protsack. His proposed work, Height...