Grawemeyer Award 2023 for Julian Anderson

Schott Music is delighted to share that Julian Anderson is announced today as the recipient of the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his work Litanies. Anderson is the first British recipient in over 20 years.

Influenced by the death of an esteemed colleague and part-destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral by fire in 2019, Litanies received its premiere with cellist Alban Gerhardt and the National Orchestra of France in 2020. The work was co-commissioned by Radio France, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Det Norske Kammerokester, The Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. 

“I am deeply honoured and humbled to be the recipient of the Grawemeyer award. My thanks to the panel for their recognition of a work so close to my heart. Notre Dame burned whilst writing Litanies – I found it incredibly traumatising to watch such an important icon of civilization go up in flames. The slow movement of this work is dedicated to my dear friend and colleague Oliver Knussen, who I’m sure would be overjoyed to see new compositions celebrated on a global scale.” Julian Anderson

“Litanies explores virtually every sound a cello and orchestra can make together. It spans a vast emotional range and is constantly inventive. It is always towards an expressive end, and never for the sake of novelty.” Marc Satterwhite, Director of the Grawemeyer Music Award 

Julian Anderson is among the most esteemed and influential composers of his generation with commissions from the world's most high-profile orchestras and regular performances across the globe. A former pupil of John Lambert, Alexander Goehr and Tristan Murail, Julian's success as a composer has also encompassed a prominent academic career at the Royal College of Music (1996-2004), Harvard University (2004-07), and Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he holds the specially created post of Professor of Composition and Composer in Residence.

Julian was awarded the CBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours and the Monaco Chevalier de l’Ordre de Mérite Culturel in October 2022, both for his services to music.  

PREVIOUS SCHOTT GRAWEMEYER RECIPIENTS

2021     Liang - A Thousand Mountains, a Million Streams
2017     Norman - Play
1994     Takemitsu - Fantasma / Cantos
1992     Penderecki - Adagio (from Symphony No. 4)     
1986     Ligeti - Etudes Book 1

Links

• Litanies: Work details and online score 
• Video: Alban Gerhardt and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra perform Litanies 

photo: John Batten