Julian Anderson, composer in residence at Guildhall College of Music & Drama, has acquired the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his work Litanies.
Influenced by the loss of life of a colleague and the fireplace at Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral, Litanies acquired its premiere with cellist Alban Gerhardt and the Nationwide Orchestra of France in 2020. The work was a co-commission from Radio France, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Metropolis of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Det Norske Kammerokester, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne.
‘I’m overjoyed and deeply honoured to be the recipient of the 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition,’ says Anderson. ‘Litanies was impressed by the particular qualities of cellist Alban Gerhardt, to whom it’s devoted. Two unrelated tragedies occurred while I used to be composing: the loss of life of my expensive colleague Oliver Knussen and the burning down of Notre Dame in Paris. The ‘Litanies’ of the title sing out each the lack of a pricey pal and the destruction of a world monument.
‘I’m deeply grateful to the panel of the Grawemeyer Award for his or her recognition of a piece which is each an act of commemoration and a celebration of musical magnificence.’
Marc Satterwhite, director of the Grawemeyer Music Award, says: ‘Litanies explores nearly each sound a cello and orchestra could make collectively. It spans an enormous emotional vary and is continually creative. It’s at all times in direction of an expressive finish, and by no means for the sake of novelty.’
Anderson has been professor of composition and composer-in-residence on the Guildhall College of Music & Drama since 2007. A former pupil of John Lambert, Alexander Goehr and Tristan Murail, Julian’s work has been premiered by orchestras world wide.
The Grawemeyer Awards honour seminal concepts in world order, psychology, schooling and faith.
