Spanish composer Luis Arias, Canadian composer Linda Bouchard and American composer Mathew Rosenblum have been named laureates of the 2028 Azrieli Music Prizes, each receiving a commission to create a new chamber work.

Announced by the Montreal-based Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre on 3 November, the three awards recognise compositions for ensembles of up to 15 musicians, with optional soloists. The biennial prizes, established in 2014 by Sharon Azrieli for the Azrieli Foundation, support composers through substantial commissions, performances and international exposure.

L-R: Luis Arias, Linda Bouchard, Sharon Azrieli and Mathew Rosenblum. Photo © Danilo Bobyk

Arias receives the Azrieli Commission for International Music for Optimized for Loneliness, a 12-minute work exploring how digital media is changing the experience and collective memory of traditional Andalusian Holy Week processions. Combining fixed media with a 15-player chamber ensemble, the composition will contrast the communal energy of street rituals with the fragmentation and isolation of experiencing them through digital screens.

Bouchard has been awarded the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music for Le Saguenay, Saki-nip, a 15-minute work inspired by the Saguenay Fjords, her family’s history in the region and early encounters between Innu communities and French explorers. Scored for 15 instrumentalists, the composition will explore connections between past and present through expansive ensemble textures and intimate string dialogues.

The Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music goes to Rosenblum for Tamim (Simplicity), a 15-minute work for mezzo-soprano, chamber ensemble, re-tuned instruments and pre-recorded audio. Drawing on recordings of his grandmother singing traditional Yiddish and Ukrainian folk melodies, the piece will incorporate her voice into a microtonally inflected musical texture, reflecting on family history, memory and joy.

Each laureate receives a prize package valued at more than $255,000 AUD, a significant cash award, a premiere performance by Montréal-based Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Le NEM) at the Azrieli Music Prizes Gala Concert in autumn 2028, two subsequent international performances and a commercial studio recording.

The 2028 winners were selected by three international juries comprising composers, performers, conductors, musicologists and producers.

The prizes are also revising their approach to Jewish music. Previously awarded alongside the three commissions, the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music will be reimagined as a discovery prize focused on recovering significant existing works that have been lost, overlooked or suppressed, particularly those connected to the Holocaust. Further details are expected in early 2027.

The 2028 commissions will be presented at the Azrieli Music Prizes Gala Concert in Montréal in autumn 2028.

For more information on the Azrieli Foundation, visit azrielifoundation.org