Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition

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Nominations for the 2026 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition are now closed.

Music has the ability to inspire, to bring joy to those who hear it and those who create it. It can convey great emotion in just a few powerful notes. There is, perhaps, no greater expression of the human spirit. For this reason, the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition honors those who bring beauty and inspiration into the world.

The University of Louisville offers an international prize in recognition of outstanding achievement by a living composer in a large musical genre: choral, orchestral, chamber, electronic, song-cycle, dance, opera, musical theater, extended solo work and more. The award will be granted for a work premiered during the five-year period prior to the award deadline.

Important Dates

(Deadline has passed)

Nominations for the 2027 Award will open.

(Deadline has passed)

Nominations for the 2027 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition close.
The 2027 award winner will be publicly announced on or around December 1, 2025.
Nominations for the 2028 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition open.

Contact Us

Matthew Ertz, Director

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Location

Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition
School of Music, Room 160
University of Louisville
2301 S. 3rd St.
Louisville, Kentucky 40292