Max Richter to receive Ivor Novello Award for Innovation days before new album
The Ivors Academy will present composer Max Richter with an Ivor Novello Award for Innovation at The Ivors Composer Awards in London on November 17. The news lands days before his new album, While The Flood Rages, arrives on Decca on October 16.
The honour: Composer Max Richter will receive an Ivor Novello Award for Innovation “in recognition of his ingenuity and impact in contemporary classical composition,” The Ivors Academy announced Tuesday, as reported by the Academy and Music Week. He will accept it in person at The Ivors Composer Awards, sponsored by PRS for Music and in association with BBC Radio 3, at Grosvenor House on Park Lane, London, on November 17.
About the award: The Innovation Award is one of the Academy’s special “Gift of the Academy” honours given each year. Past recipients include Anoushka Shankar, Gavin Bryars, Matthew Herbert and Talvin Singh, according to the Academy and Music Week.
The work behind it: Richter’s catalogue has passed four billion streams worldwide, the Academy said. His music blends classical tradition, minimalism, electronic music and sound design. On screen, he scored Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet (2025), which the Academy said drew widespread critical acclaim, as well as Mary Queen of Scots (2018) and Ad Astra (2019). On stage, he has worked with soloists including Anna Lapwood, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Gautier Capuçon, made ballets with choreographer Wayne McGregor and scored Dior runway shows for Kim Jones. Music Week described him as an Oscar-nominated composer.
What they said: “Max Richter has expanded what contemporary composition can be and who it can reach,” said Lord Neri, CEO of The Ivors Academy. “His music combines extraordinary craft with a constant desire to innovate, connecting with audiences across concert halls, recordings, stage and screen.”
Tom Gray, the Academy’s chair, said: “Max is a composer of unmistakable originality and influence. He has created a musical language that is entirely his own, while continually exploring new forms, sounds and ideas.” Gray pointed to collaborations with Future Sound of London and Roni Size and to landmark works including Sleep, The Blue Notebooks and the Hamnet score, adding that “his work has undoubtedly changed contemporary composition.”
The new album: While The Flood Rages is out Friday, October 16, on Decca Records. It features music from Richter’s latest collaboration with McGregor, MaddAddam, inspired by Margaret Atwood’s trilogy of the same name, the Academy said. The album explores ecological crisis, technological acceleration and human connection.
The ceremony: Radio presenter Petroc Trelawny will host The Ivors Composer Awards, with BBC Radio 3 as broadcast partner. The awards honour new compositions by British, Irish and UK-resident composers across genres. This year’s ceremony is part of the first Ivors Composer Week (November 16–20), which includes a new annual Ivors Academy Composer Summit at the Royal Institution in London on November 18.