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

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

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

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

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

Vaughan Williams on ‘providing a living’ during the war…

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Ulster Orchestra

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…

Twitter feed video.

Vaughan Williams Foundation

📷 Discover a wonderful archive of photos of Vaughan Williams, available to download via our website

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

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

Marking RVW’s birthday yesterday…

Image for the Tweet beginning: Grant applications open today!

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Grant applications open today!

💻 Details here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/funding/

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