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
Vaughan Williams Scholarships
We are pleased to announce that four scholarships of £8,000 each have been awarded to postgraduate students of composition.
Congratulations to our 2026 Vaughan Williams Scholars: Patrick Gorry, Scarlett Henderson, Donnchadh Mac Aodha and Dominic Wright.
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.
Funding
Applications
Since 2023 we have awarded over £1.35 million to composer projects. 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.
Applications will reopen on 1 October 2026. We welcome applications from ensembles, organisations and individuals.
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
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 Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Watts
Letter No.: VWL4356
The White Gates
Dorking
March 10 [1948]
Dear Miss Watts1
Your parcel of soaps arrived on March 7 all safely packed – it is very very kind of you and your present is very welcome for the sun shines and turns our thoughts to spring cleaning – everything is so perfectly chosen –
You and Mr Sheppard ask many questions. It is difficult to suggest anything better than what you have already chosen. We have a feeling that we must share “austerity” to some extent with others and Dorking is a much easier place to live in than London – We have been here more than 18 years and have acertain amount of garden & can grow potatoes to help us a great part of the year. Fish is plentiful, & there is always bread, cakes & oatmeal. Of course all the world is short of FATS – and Milk – but apart from having to think more about food & plan so far we do not suffer – and my husband can even find braces in the town that though they are not entirely elastic but will last some time – You have your father in London & I feel sure he must be glad of your shopping because I have a sister in London and I compare her life with ours
But now as you ask please send anything that is easy for you.
Have you rice? it would be nice to have a small quantity – and for jam have you quince or Cape Gooseberry? I remember both these in old days coming from S. Africa.
As to materials we mend and patch & so far, we are all right, for I have a faithful maid who helps me. I am rather an infirm person and am looked after to an extent that makes me ashamed –
My husband is full of energy – I wonder if you will hear a broadcast of his “Partita” for double string orchestra – (3rd programme March 20th & 21st Adrian Boult). He has just been conducting Bach’s Matthew Passion – This he does every year when he can & this year he has been able to have it in Dorking Halls – at last free.2
I hope you are happy in South Africa – we are pleased that Mr Sheppard has a good post.
Our best wishes to you both
Yours gratefully
Adeline Vaughan Williams
1. Mary Watts was a well-wisher who with her husband Victor Sheppard sent many food parcels from South Africa to the VWs during the war.
2. The Dorking Halls had been requisitioned during the war, but were now apparently returned to civilian use.
