Australian composer Liza Lim has won the 2026 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for her visionary cello concerto A Sutured World. The prize – presented annually by the University of Louisville – is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious international honours for contemporary music and endowed with a cash prize of $100,000. A Sutured World was commissioned by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO)/musica viva, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Casa da Música Porto for cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. The work received its world premiere in October 2024 with Altstaedt and the BRSO as part of Musica Viva in Munich, and has since been performed in major houses including the Concertgebouw as well as in Melbourne and Porto. 


The Grawemeyer jury praised A Sutured World for its "themes of unity and healing", noting that “Lim's ability to convey these ideas into the cellist's intricate and virtuosic passages is astounding and deeply moving.” Liza, who will accept the prestigious award at a ceremony in Louisville in April, commented: “I hope this recognition helps to shine a light on the vital role that music can play in shaping our understanding of the world and in responding to the urgent challenges we face. It's both humbling and inspiring to be counted among such composers as Harrison Birtwistle, Krzysztof Penderecki and Kaija Saariaho whose work has deeply influenced my own artistic journey.” 

A Sutured World on BR Klassik

The concerto was recently released to great acclaim on a portrait album by BR-Klassik and received raving reviews by leading music magazines.




“A Sutured World (2024) foregrounds the cello in a piece that explores the beauty of scars. Richly textured, with sudden, unexpected, sounds and harmonic segues.”
"Anyone who still believes that contemporary composition is the result of dry intellectual exercises should listen to the music of Liza Lim. (...) A cello concerto par excellence is "A Sutured World" (2024), which Nicolas Altstaedt begins with a simple search for melody that later solidifies into elegiac lines and rugged cadences."
"Each work has a rich origin story, drawing in the inquisitive listener with multiple layers of context: the solo cello as a healer in A Sutured World (2024), for example, responding to qualities which Lim perceived in Nicolas Altstaedt’s playing; fragments and wounds that can be repaired to make something new and beautiful from the cracks and scars."