“First Snow” won Best Instrumental Composition for Remy Le Boeuf at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Unlike an album or performance award, Best Instrumental Composition is primarily a composer’s honor. The category recognizes an original non-classical instrumental work released during the eligibility period, so the winning title identifies the composition rather than a full record. The Recording Academy credited Le Boeuf as composer, with the work associated with Nordkraft Big Band, Remy Le Boeuf, and Danielle Wertz.
The 2026 field also included Miho Hazama’s “Live Life This Day: Movement I,” Sierra Hull’s “Lord, That’s A Long Way,” Zain Effendi’s “Opening,” John Powell and Stephen Schwartz’s “Train To Emerald City,” and Ludwig Göransson’s “Why You Here / Before The Sun Went Down.”
A frequent mistake is treating this as a band or album category. It is instead about the writing of the instrumental piece. Le Boeuf had previously received Grammy nominations, including for “Strata” in the same category, before earning his first win with “First Snow.”