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
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.
Since 2023 we have awarded over £1.2 million to composer projects. 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.
Funding
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.
READ THE LATEST
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 Grace Williams
Letter No.: VWL3821
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
[August 1930]
Dear Grace
That will be lovely – we will go together to the prom & we will have dinner together either before or after – I rather fancy after – Betty1 comes on 2nd & will be over by 1/2 past 8.0 – so if not too late for you we wd have a nice long dinner after rather than a hurried dinner before. But just as you like let me know – But if you approve of my plan I will call for you at 4 Horbury Place at 7.30 (By the way who is “Joan” I can’t place her at all). I shan’t have time to dress – so please come in a day frock (a pretty one!) – But you’ll look pretty in anything – I thought you looking prettier than I’d ever seen you that glimpse I had of you at the RCM.2 – So dearest Grace if you approve of this plan let me know – but if you like any other arrangements better I will fall in with it.
I will get the tickets.
I expect you are right about the English orchestras – only its not quite fair to compare a prom performance (6 concerts a week & 3 rehearsals) with a fully rehearsed concert; also H.J.W.’s3 eccentricities & interpretations have nothing to do with the playing of the orch, have they? I had the best performance of my tune I’ve ever heard on Thursday – I like the Walton very much especially the 2nd & 3rd movements
I’m just going out to send a telegram to Betty
Goodbye dearest Grace
Yrs Uncle Ralph
1. Elizabeth Maconchy. This refers to the Promenade concert on Saturday 30 August 1930, when Maconchy’s The Land had its first performance, as the second item on the programme.
2. Royal College of Music
3. Henry Wood, the conductor.
