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Canada’s top composition competition oers an evening of premieres and new stories at its 2026 Gala Concert
On October 15, the Azrieli Music, Arts and Culture Centre proudly presents the sixth Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) Gala Concert at Montreal’s Maison symphonique. The event marks the summit of AMP’s 8-year program arc, featuring major new works for symphonic orchestra, choir, and soloists by the 2026 AMP Laureates: Hana Ajiashvili, Nicholas Denton Protsack, Adrian Mocanu and Dalit Hadass Warshaw. The concert will weave a rich tapestry of human experience across four premieres. You’ll witness tales of personal sacrifice in wartime Poland, unravel the modern-day meaning of a medieval riddle, rediscover the songs of 12th-century troubadours, and reflect on how listening to the land shapes our identity. Each work comes to life in the expert hands of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the OSM Chorus, led by renowned guest conductor Asher Fisch and joined by outstanding soloists: sopranos Hila Baggio and Hila Plitmann, baritone Noam Heinz, cellist Ariel Barnes, and Canadian viol ensemble Les Voix humaines. At AMP’s core are its awards for Jewish music. The 2026 Commission for Jewish Music has been awarded to Dalit Hadass Warshaw, for her moving musical work “Letter from Across the River.” It tells the deeply personal story of her great-grandfather’s experience in Nazi-occupied Poland, translating his decision to choose love over freedom into music of
was awarded, their prize-winning works will receive a professional recording and two subsequent international performances. In this way, AMP builds composers’ careers and creates a legacy for these beautiful new works within the concert repertoire. As we celebrate these premieres, AMP also looks to the future. A few weeks after the Gala Concert, the music community will reconvene in Montreal to discover who will become AMP’s 2028 prizewinners. The event marks a wonderful cycle of creativity—just as four new works are shared with the world, others begin to take shape. We hope you can join us for this special announcement. Altogether, it’s a milestone year for AMP. Created in 2014 by Dr. Sharon Azrieli, CQ for the Azrieli Foundation, AMP has blossomed into Canada’s leading music composition competition and one of the most significant in the world. For more information about the Azrieli Music Prizes, visit azrielifoundation.org/amp. Azrieli Music Prizes Gala Concert October 15, 2026, 7:30PM Maison symphonique de Montréal Tickets from $30-$115; purchase at osm.ca
sweeping emotion and fierce beauty. AMP also celebrates Hana Ajiashvili, recipient of the 2026 Prize for Jewish Music, for her work “Riddle”, in which she transforms 12th-century poet Yehuda Halevi’s haunting verse into a powerful meditation on remembrance and resilience. B.C.-born composer Nicholas Denton Protsack unveils his Commission for Canadian Music, a creative engagement with the complexities of composing in Canada today. “Height of Land” for orchestra, choir, and solo cello reflects on the interconnectedness of land, water and human presence, inviting the audience to renew their relationship to the environment through living, breathing musical ecosystems. Spanish composer Adrian Mocanu engages in cultural expression that connects meaningfully with his own lived experience through the Commission for International Music. “de l’encra escafada” resurrects the long-lost voices of the trobairitz — female troubadours of medieval Provence—adding the unique sound of four violas da gamba to the orchestra and choir. Inspired by the lone surviving song of Beatriz de Dia, the work becomes an act of musical reclamation, where fragments of forgotten language and melody become living echoes of the past. The support for these four Laureates extends far beyond the Gala Concert. In addition to the substantial cash prize each
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