The 2015 Grawemeyer Award has been given to Wolfgang Rihm for his 15-minute orchestral work IN-SCHRIFT 2. Awarded annually by the University of Louisville, the Grawemeyer Award is worth $100,000 and as such is the world’s largest composition prize. Previous Grawemeyer winners include John Adams (1995), Thomas Adès (2000) and Esa-Pekka Salonen (2012).

IN-SCHRIFT 2 was premiered in October 2013 and commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Philharmonie concert hall. The award’s director Marc Satterwhite said, ‘The work evokes dark colors and uses mostly low instruments – no flutes, violins or violas, for example. It begins and ends in quiet and mystery, taking many interesting paths along the way.’