Australian composer Liza Lim has been named the recipient of the 2026 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, one of the most influential and prestigious international prizes in contemporary music. She is the second Australian to receive the honour, after Brett Dean in 2009, and the sixth woman to be recognised since the award’s creation.
The University of Louisville announced that the prize is awarded for Lim’s cello concerto A Sutured World, written for Nicolas Altstaedt and commissioned by several major institutions, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Musica Viva, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Casa da Música Porto. The work was premiered in October 2024 in Munich by Altstaedt and the BRSO.
Altstaedt has championed the concerto since its debut, calling it “one of the great cello concertos of the future.” The piece draws inspiration from kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, a metaphor Lim uses to explore beauty, vulnerability and spiritual transformation.
Matthew Ertz, Director of the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, highlighted the work’s emotional depth and unity of musical ideas, describing Lim’s writing for the cello as “astonishing and deeply moving.”
Beyond the award-winning concerto, Lim is widely recognised as one of today’s leading voices in contemporary music. She holds the Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music at the Sydney Conservatorium and has developed a significant international career through commissions, residencies and performances with major orchestras and festivals. Her recent honours include the 2026 Roche Commission and an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship (2025–29), the first ever awarded to a musician.
Reflecting on the Grawemeyer distinction, Lim said she hoped the recognition would highlight “the vital role that music can play in shaping our understanding of the world and in responding to the urgent challenges we face.” She also acknowledged the influence of previous laureates such as Harrison Birtwistle, Krzysztof Penderecki and Kaija Saariaho—composers whose impact continues to define the evolution of contemporary music.
About the Grawemeyer Award
Established in 1985 by the University of Louisville, the Grawemeyer Awards recognise outstanding contributions in five fields: music composition, education, psychology, religion and ideas improving world order. Winners receive USD 100,000, and past music laureates include Witold Lutosławski, György Ligeti, John Adams, Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, Unsuk Chin and Tan Dun. The prize is considered one of the most important international awards for contemporary music, noted for identifying groundbreaking works that shape the repertoire.
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