Welcome to the Vaughan Williams Foundation – one of the foremost sources of funding for recent and contemporary music in the UK

The Vaughan Williams Foundation is a grant-giving charity which upholds the values and vision of the celebrated composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and his wife Ursula Vaughan Williams.

Our principal aims are to honour RVW’s desire to support his fellow composers, and to help make his own work widely accessible to the general public.

VWF was founded in 2022, 150 years after the composer’s birth, and brings together the two charities originally set up by Ralph (RVW Trust) and Ursula (Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust).

General Funding

VWF supports the work, performance and recording of British/Irish composers from the last 100 years; as well as projects which further the knowledge and understanding of the life and music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and of the work of Ursula Vaughan Williams.

Applications will reopen on 2 June. Ensembles, organisations and individuals are welcome to apply.

The Foundation also offers annual funding for postgraduate composition students.

FUNDING

Postgraduate Composers

The 25/6 Vaughan Williams Scholarships of £8,000 each will be awarded to applicants who demonstrate exceptional compositional talent and who are intending to make composition their professional career. Scholarships are awarded towards the costs of study of a taught Masters course or PhD in composition at UK universities or conservatoires.

Congratulations to the seven composers who received Vaughan Williams Bursaries towards their Masters studies in composition in 2024.

.

RVW

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) is one of the greatest of British composers whose music, generosity and vision for community music making, continue to impact British musical life.


Find out more about the composer and explore our extensive archive of letters and photographs and catalogue of published works.

READ THE LATEST

Image for the Tweet beginning: We hope you enjoy making, Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

We hope you enjoy making, listening to, or sharing music over the weekend 🎶

Image for the Tweet beginning: ⏰📻 Set a reminder for Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

⏰📻 Set a reminder for what promises to be a radio treat on Sunday!

Sara Mohr-Pietsch hosts BBC Radio 3’s ‘Music Map’ – a programme about the history and legacy of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending.

1:30pm on Sunday, May 18.

Image for the Tweet beginning: An amusing anecdote in a Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

An amusing anecdote in a letter to Vaughan Williams from his friend, the composer Gustav Holst!

Image for the Tweet beginning: Investment in the arts and Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Investment in the arts and culture is vital…

The Campaign for the Arts (@_CFTA) has launched a petition highlighting how the arts make our lives happier and our communities stronger.

✍️ Find it here 👉 https://www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/spending-review-2025/

Image for the Tweet beginning: Our website offers a wealth Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Our website offers a wealth of resources relating to the life and works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, including letters, images and links for further reading.

Explore what’s available here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/

Image for the Tweet beginning: Have you got five minutes?

This Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Have you got five minutes?

This letter, from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Percy Scholes, (extract here) contains the entire ‘work in progress’ plot for Hugh the Drover, or Love in the Stocks – a great read!

Find the full version here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/letter/letter-from-ralph-vaughan-williams-to-percy-scholes-4/

Image for the Tweet beginning: An example of how Ralph Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

An example of how Ralph Vaughan Williams supported musicians.

At the VWF we hope we are following in his footsteps – supporting musicians and composers in his memory.

Image for the Tweet beginning: The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library is calling for papers for a two-day Traditional Tunes and Popular Airs conference on November 8 & 9.

Details here: https://www.efdss.org/about-us/what-we-do/news/15054-traditional-tunes-and-popular-airs-call-for-papers

Image for the Tweet beginning: Our next concert features Tom Twitter feed image.

Ipswich Chamber Choir

Our next concert features Tom Aldren, a highly respected violinist who has performed with many of the UK’s leading orchestras. He takes the lead in an arrangement (for violin and choir) of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending. Tickets are available now.
#violin #concert

Twitter feed video.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Michael Kennedy, writing to Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1957.

His music continues to inspire us. Its incredible breadth of style and outlook seems especially important in our polarised times.

CHRISTOPHER GLYNN, artistic director, Ryedale Festival

Among his acts were countless kindnesses, known only to himself and the persons concerned. He gave continuous encouragement to younger men. He had the dignified humility of a great man, and was utterly unself-seeking.

SIR ARTHUR BLISS, conductor

I cannot stress enough how important this organisation’s work is, what a profound difference it is making, and how it has enabled so many to develop creatively and give new work a platform. Vaughan Williams himself would surely be so proud of this legacy. 

ZOE MARTLEW, composer and cellist

It is necessary to know facts, but music will enable you to see past facts to the very essence of things in a way which science cannot do. The arts are the means by which we can look through the magic casements and see what lies beyond. 

RVW, letter to the children of Swaffham Primary School, 1958