The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition () is an annual prize instituted by Henry Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...

in 1984. The award was first given in 1985. Subsequently, the

Grawemeyer Award The Grawemeyer Awards () are five awards given annually by the University of Louisville. The prizes are presented to individuals in the fields of education, ideas improving world order, music composition, religion, and psychology. The religion awa ...

was expanded to other categories: ''Ideas Improving World Order'' (instituted in 1988), ''Education'' (1989), ''Religion'' (1990) and ''Psychology'' (2000). The prize fund was initially an endowment of US$9 million from the Grawemeyer Foundation. The initial awards were for $150 000 each, increasing to $200 000 for the year 2000 awards. After the economic crash of 2008, the prize was reduced to $100,000. The selection process includes three panels of judges. The first is a panel of faculty from the University of Louisville, who hosts and maintains the perpetuity of the award. The second is a panel of music professionals, often involving conductors, performers, and composers (most frequently the previous winner). The final decision is made by a lay committee of new music enthusiasts who are highly knowledgeable about the state of new music. This final committee of amateurs makes the final prize determination because Grawemeyer insisted that great ideas are not exclusively the domain of academic experts. The award has most often been awarded to large-scale works, such as symphonies, concerti, and operas. Only two Award-winning pieces (

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

's ''

Études Études is French for "studies". It is used as a name for several music or dance works, including: * ''Études'' (Chopin), three sets of studies for the piano by Frédéric Chopin, composed between 1829 and 1839 * ''Études'' (Debussy), a set of 1 ...

'', for piano; and

Sebastian Currier Sebastian Currier (born March 16, 1959) is an American composer of music for chamber groups and orchestras. He was also a professor of music at Columbia University from 1999 to 2007. Life Currier was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and was ra ...

's ''Static'', for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano) do not require a conductor in performance. Only four years have seen no prize awarded. In 1988, the second panel, consisting of professional musicians (which that year included previous winner

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...

) determined that no work was deserving of the award. In 1999, the awarding of the prize was moved from the fall semester to the spring semester due to the University of Louisville's bicentennial celebrations, which meant that that year's winner (

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: '' The Tempest'' (2004), '' ...

) was given the prize in the spring of 2000 rather than the fall of 1999. The prize has been awarded in the spring each year since.

Recipients of the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition

References

External links

The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition
{{Classical music awards American music awards Classical music awards Contemporary classical music Awards established in 1984 University of Louisville