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
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Composers are at the heart of our support!
We fund the performance, commissioning & recording of music by professional British/Irish composers; and projects that create developmental opportunities for composers, or promote awareness of British/Irish music.
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Wooburn Singers
@wooburnsingers
Great to welcome @Mark_Aus_tin to rehearsal last night, to work with us on #Finzi, #vaughanwilliams and #WillTodd for A Christmas Fantasy
We’d love to see you on Sat 20 Dec at @StMarysBeaconsf, so book now – https://ticketsource.co.uk/wooburn-singers / tickets@wooburnsingers.org.uk / 07739 184258
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
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Conductor Sir Anthony Pappano describes Vaughan Williams as a ‘visionary’ – hear him discuss why he is moved by the music of British composers in this short clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmpmnqy8T2U&t=9s
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Radical? Or traditionalist? Where do you stand on the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams…
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
“The cantata Dona nobis pacem is a powerful plea for peace, composed between two world wars.”
The @londonsymphony, conducted by Sir Anthony Pappano, will share Vaughan Williams’
Flos Campi and Dona nobis pacem at the Barbican on December 7.
Details:
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Explore via our website! ✉️
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Teaching resources relating to the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams are available free of charge to all schools and organisations running education projects.
Download via the Music Teachers’ Association here: https://www.musicteachers.org/rvw150/
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Vaughan Williams lived at The White Gates in Dorking from 1929 until 1953, and composed many of his works there.
He was a key figure in the founding and building of Dorking Halls, which opened in 1931, and is where this statue stands.
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Wooburn Singers
@wooburnsingers
Book now for our Christmas concert on 20th Dec at @StMarysBeaconsf, with @jamesgeidtbari!
Join us for Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Finzi’s In Terra Pax, plus carols for choir and audience
https://ticketsource.co.uk/wooburn-singers
tickets@wooburnsingers.org.uk
07739 184258
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Dr Jonathan Clinch
@jonathanclinch
Howells, A Hymn for St Cecilia.
The Autograph manuscript from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. The only piece he ever wrote that was to be sung in procession!
https://www.wcomarchive.org.uk/—a-hymn-for-st-cecilia
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 Michael Tippett to Ralph and Ursula Vaughan Williams
Letter No.: VWL3456
Tidebrook Manor
Wadhurst,
Sussex
29th Dec. 1956
Dear Ursula
This is just a very personal letter to thank you both for being so nice to the young fellow, John Minchinton. It’s been a strange story which isn’t, mercifully, publicisable. Ten or eleven years ago, or so, he took french leave from School, hitchhiked from Bristol to London and arrived eventually on the doorstep of my little cottage in Limpsfield. He said he cared for my music & was sure he would be able to be a good conductor one day.
To be picked out a mentor by one so determined and so young was a bit worrying. But somehow I couldn’t just refuse to help. I found out and got to know his widowed mother, who had brought up 3 boys by earning as a teacher in an elementary school. The house was simple and Christian – put it that way.
Neither I, nor John’s mother, had then the means to keep & train him. So he had a turbulent & frustrated adolescence. I gave what counsel I might, and what help I could. I realised quality would tell, if there were any. He found somehow a group of young people of very nice manners & breeding. Two good girls were particularly his muses. And I guess one of them found means to pay his way to master classes with Karajan in Lucerne. This has proved the turning point. Karajan released the real technical abilities, and gave him confidence. From me, I think he has got the sense of tenacity and value for good music of all kinds. He has his own fanatical interests in standard of performance.
Getting through as a conductor is worse in some ways than as a composer. He has still a long hard road to go. But English music needs all she can get.
I’ve had an intuitive desire to tell you a little; for I know you have all human things at heart. And to thank you and Ralph for being nice to him. I’m more than pleased now that he finds his own contacts with the great (And I dont know for example how he got to Casals.) With esteem & affection to you both.
Love
Michael Tippett
