Ana Sokolovic Receives 2026 Jan V. Matejcek Award from SOCAN
SOCAN awards Ana Sokolovic the 2026 Jan V. Matejcek Award, making her a three-time recipient of one of Canada’s top honors for composition in dramatic and media contexts.
Composer Ana Sokolovic has been awarded the 2026 Jan V. Matejcek Award by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), one of Canada’s most distinguished honors recognizing achievement in composition for dramatic and media contexts.
Presented as part of the annual SOCAN Awards, the Jan V. Matejcek Award celebrates composers whose work has made a significant impact on Canada’s musical and cultural landscape. The awards were presented at the 35th SOCAN Gala on May 2, 2026, at TOHU in Montreal, where leading figures from across the music industry—both onstage and behind the scenes—were honored.
Sokolovic now becomes a three-time recipient of the award, having previously been recognized in 2008 and 2012—an exceptional distinction that underscores the sustained influence of her work over nearly two decades.
The recognition follows a period of major creative activity. In 2025, her work You Can Die Properly Now—for soprano and orchestra, with libretto by Michelle Sylliboy—received its world premiere with soprano Emma Pennel and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Rafael Payare. Commissioned by the orchestra, the work sets Sylliboy’s Mi’kmaq-language poetry, reflecting on the tragic legacy of residential schools in Canada and offering a meditation on loss, remembrance, and continuity. Also in 2025, her Two Studies for Piano was premiered by finalists of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.
These works were followed by the world premiere of her opera Clown(s) at Opéra de Montréal in January 2026. The opera was met with sweeping critical acclaim, with Le Devoir hailing it as “a stunning masterpiece,” praising its originality, power, and “extraordinary level of realization.”
Based in Montreal, Sokolovic is internationally recognized for a body of work that spans opera, orchestral, chamber, and vocal music. Her distinctive compositional voice draws on a wide range of influences, often integrating rhythmic vitality and vocal expression rooted in her Balkan heritage with a contemporary musical language.
This latest honor from SOCAN affirms Sokolovic’s continued impact as one of today’s most compelling and original compositional voices, and highlights her enduring contribution to contemporary music in Canada and beyond.
Photo: Andre´ Parmentier