Vaughan Williams Foundation

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).

THE FOUNDATION

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.

HOW TO APPLY

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.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

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.

WHO WE ARE

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.

DISCOVER

READ THE LATEST

Image for the Tweet beginning: For more than 40 years,

Twitter feed image.

@jqgl

A fascinating exploration of music linked to hymns by Vaughan Williams and others. @DulwichChoral #WilliamVann @JamesOrford @AlbionRecords @RVWSociety My review for @MusicWebInt is at

Image for the Tweet beginning: This is fun!

Explore this

Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

@vwfndn

This is fun!

Explore this first-day cover of stamps issued by the British Post Office commemorating General Anniversaries in 1972 and featuring the centenary of the birth of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

🔎 Take a closer look here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_EPH-ME-1874

Image for the Tweet beginning: The Vaughan Williams Foundation has

Twitter feed image.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

@vwfndn

The Vaughan Williams Foundation has three annual deadlines for general funding applications – the next is January 5, 2026. Details via our website 💻

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.

BROWSE THE LETTERS

Letter of the Day

Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles

Letter No.: VWL4873

From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Dorking,
Surrey.

[6 May 1937]

Dear Maud
This is very distressing – I did read the minutes – but I suppose not carefully – for I did not notice anything beyond the usual wrangles.¹
What my position is I don’t quite know – I adumbrated retiring to Douglas² some time ago – & I certainly do not want to remain on a truncated B.A.C.³ – but I do not want it to appear that there has been collusion between us. The one thing I sh^d like to remain on w^d be the Journal subcommittee where I think I c^d be useful (will you remain on this?)

I’ve been through the Sharp accomps and marked them⁴
Yes (which means yes
No (which means that either I don’t like the tune or the accomp)
Re which means that the accomp needs revision
I’ve had a shot at one or 2 myself. Shall I send what I have done or wait till I’ve done a few more
I’m sorry you didn’t like the production of H. the D.⁵ – I thought it 1^st rate far the best there has been
Yrs
RVW

1. This letter was written in response to a letter of 4 May 1937, where Karpeles informed VW that she had resigned from the Executive Committee of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
2. Douglas Kennedy, Director of the Society.
3. Board of Artistic Control of the Society.
4. Perhaps for the folksongs to be included in the Novello school series.
5. Hugh the Drover, VW’s opera.

Expand to read all Close read all text

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