Liza Lim’s Cello Concerto ​“A Sutured World”, composed for Nicolas Altstaedt and premiered by the cellist together with co-commissioners Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/​Musica Viva, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/​Amsterdam Cello Biennale, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Casa da Música Porto, from October 2024 to October 2025, has won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for 2026.

The concerto’s title references society’s fragmentation and the importance of welding the pieces back together. Lim was inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where ceramics are repaired using gold or silver glue to highlight cracks in the porcelain, and by the ancient Indian art of sewing sutra manuscripts together with fine thread. The cellist plays the role of the surgeon whose healing hand knits the disparate elements of the orchestra back into a single whole.

Nicolas Altstaedt​’s recording of the concerto, captured live during the world premiere performance with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ed Gardner in October 2024, was issued on BR-Klassik in July 2025 and has been lauded by the press; Limelight’s 5‑star review​described it as​“destined to become a signature work of the cello repertoire”, with special mention made of Altstaedt’s ​“extraordinary expressive capacity”. In Altstaedt’s own words: ​“I love playing this piece more and more…I believe this will be one of the great cello concertos in the future for our repertoire.”

Established in 1984, the Grawemeyer Award is administered by the University of Louisville. Lim accepts her award at a ceremony there on 14 April 2026. 

More details about the award news here.