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 through funding for performances and recordings, 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).
Funding
Vaughan Williams Scholarships
Applications are now open for the 2026 Vaughan Williams Scholarships.
4 scholarships of £8,000 each are awarded annually to postgraduate students of composition.
For more than 40 years Vaughan Williams funding has been awarded to support postgraduate study in composition. The 270 previous recipients have included names such as Julian Anderson, Christian Alexander, Anna Meredith, Graham Fitkin, Larry Goves, Gavin Higgins, Hannah Kendall and Daniel Kidane.
Congratulations to our 2025 Vaughan Williams Scholars: Tom Burkhill, Lucy Holmes, André Faria Serra and Elliott Park.
Funding
Applications Open
Composers are at the heart of what we do. VWF offers three annual funding rounds towards:
the performance, commission and recording of music by British and Irish composers active in the last 100 years, and/or
work which furthers the knowledge and understanding of the life and work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and of Ursula Vaughan Williams.
We welcome applications from ensembles, organisations and individuals.
Our new Trustees
Joining the Board
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Sam Wigglesworth, Harriet Wybor and Raymond Yiu as new Trustees, bringing with them a wealth of experience and a passion for music.
We are so grateful for their commitment to the Foundation and look forward to working with them to develop VWF for the future.
Find out more about the faces behind the VWF and our work.
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
Leith Hill Festival
@leithhillfest
Booking now open for our Spring Concert and 2026 Festival. Full details here https://www.dorkinghalls.co.uk/search-results?keywords=leith%20hill
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
We love this picture of RVW and Holst setting off on a trek – makes us think of sunny summer days! ☀️
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Clásica FM
@clasicafmradio
🔊 Carlos Iribarren ha seleccionado 4 movimientos de sendas primeras sinfonías compuestas por autores británicos. Sus apellidos no son tan conocidos como los de Elgar, Vaughan Williams o Britten pero es música de mucho nivel.
🎧 Escucha aquí el podcast: https://clasicafmradio.es/podcasts/hoy-toca/primeras-sinfonias-britanicas-6/
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
The Vaughan Williams Foundation offers a number of funding opportunities.
Find out more via our website: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/funding/
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Seeking contact details for Vaughan Williams’ principal publishers?
Find everything you need here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/published-works/publishers/
NoMadMusic
@nomadmusicnmm
New Release 💿 « Landscapes » dedicated to Vaughan Williams poetic & magnificent music.
With Cyrille Dubois, Anne Le Bozec, Emeline Concé, Louise Desjardins, Louis, Rodde, Julien Dieudegard & Baptiste Gibier.
Thanks to @VWFndn for its support
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
This Sunday in Cheltenham!
English Symphony Orchestra Residency: Elgar, Vaughan Williams & Sawyers, featuring Vaughan Williams: Overture to The Wasps.
Conductor: Kenneth Woods
Violin: Zoe Byers
3pm, Cheltenham Town Hall. Details here: https://eso.co.uk/eso-cheltenham-residency/
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
The Vaughan Williams Foundation has a wealth of resources relating to the life and works of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
💻 Discover them via our website
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Congratulations to all those shortlisted for an @RoyalPhilSoc Award this year 👏
We’re delighted that the 2026 list includes VWF trustee @rcauston. Check out Richard’s recently updated website here:
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Vaughan Williams wrote this in a letter to Swaffham Primary School, underlining the importance of children having access to the arts.
THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Featured Letter
Get to know the man and his music
RVW’s wide-ranging correspondence – with family, pupils, fellow composers, conductors and performers – paints an intriguing portrait of the man, as well as providing fascinating insights into his major preoccupations: musical, personal and political.
Our searchable database includes over 5000 annotated transcriptions of his correspondence all available to read online.
Letter of the Day
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Fritz Hart
Letter No.: VWL1698
The White Gates,
Dorking.
Oct 11 1942
My dear Fritz
I am one behind in my letters.
We keep well – and at my advanced years I try to do one or two little things to help the war – but it is rather playing at it. As Hugh Allen said the other day “our war work is forming quorums”. At all events for that one does not require a brain, only a behind.
I believe I sit on 10 committees now. Heaven knows what we do. I am so glad your music goes on – it[‘s] astonishing here how everyone hungers for music.
My love – & from both of us to you both.
Yrs
R. Vaughan Williams
