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
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.
Vaughan Williams Scholarships
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 four new Vaughan Williams Scholars: Tom Burkhill, Lucy Holmes, André Faria Serra and Elliott Park.
The Vaughan Williams Scholarships of £8,000 each are awarded annually to postgraduate students of composition.
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
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
RVW’s letters to his friends, family, pupils and fellow musicians are often frank and full of fascinating insights which give you a glimpse of the man himself.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ championed accessible music, believing it should be part of everyone’s life.
The Vaughan Williams Foundation upholds these values in its support for artists.
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Lots of VWF-funded projects have been included in this year’s nominations for The @IvorsAcademy Classical Awards 2025 – Including our very own trustee Richard Causton! Congratulations to all 👏👏👏
Winners to be announced on Tuesday, November 11, at @BFI Southbank.
BBC Music Magazine
@musicmagazine
Malcolm Hayes listens to the best recordings of Vaughan William’s string orchestra masterpiece, Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, which first filled the great spaces of Gloucester Cathedral more than 100 years ago
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
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Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano leads the LSO on the 2nd album from his Vaughan Williams symphony cycle. Pairing the 5th and 9th Symphonies, this new recording captures the passion and energy of these magnificent live performances.
More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_AiUSyzfsA&t=1s
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
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Vaughan Williams on ‘providing a living’ during the war…
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Ulster Orchestra
@ulsterorchestra
Some snaps from Friday night’s concert, which saw the world premiere of Amelia Clarkson’s ‘The Rain Keeps Coming’ (an Ulster Orchestra commission supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation @VWFndn and the Ulster Orchestra Foundation), Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 with…
Vaughan Williams Foundation
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📷 Discover a wonderful archive of photos of Vaughan Williams, available to download via our website
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
The VWF funds the performance, commissioning or recording of music by professional British/Irish composers, projects in the UK creating developmental opportunities for composers, or those promoting wider awareness of British/Irish music of the last 100 years.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Marking RVW’s birthday yesterday…
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 Arnold Barter
Letter No.: VWL2770
The White Gates,
Dorking,
Surrey.
17th June, 1948.
Dear Barter
Curwen’s are wonderful people. When I complained that there was only one set of parts for “Sancta Civitas” they wrote to me rather sanctimoniously to say that they had always had two sets.1
They do not seem to know what they have got in their library. I have often found that with them.
They also tell me they have the a full score which they can send you, but I do not know when it is available. So if you would still like my copy send me a P.C. and I will send it to you.
Yrs
RVW
(R. Vaughan Williams).
Arnold Barter, Esq.,
9, Hurle Crescent,
Clifton,
Bristol, 8.
1. See VWL2768.
