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).

THE FOUNDATION

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.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Funding

Vaughan Williams Scholarships

Applications are now open for the 2026 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.


HOW TO APPLY

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.

WHO WE ARE

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.

DISCOVER

READ THE LATEST

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Ralph Vaughan Williams married his second wife, Ursula, in 1953. Ursula was an artist in her own right. A published poet, she contributed words to 9 of RVW's major works, wrote several books and the libretti for two operas. Discover more here: vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/the-foundati…

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Released today 👏 Michael Finnissy's bold and ambitious Complete Works album spans almost 60 years of his career. It represents the enormous contribution to the repertoire of the instrument made by one of Britain’s most significant composers. Supported by the VWF.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

The VWF supports work furthering the knowledge and understanding of the life & work of Ralph Vaughan Williams & Ursula Vaughan Williams. This includes recordings and films, performances of lesser-known repertoire, publishing & research projects & educational resources.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Calling west Londoners! The Fulham Symphony Orchestra's spring concert at St Paul's Hammersmith, at 7.30pm on Saturday, March 21, will feature Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No 6, with songs by George Butterworth, Ina Boyle and others, orchestrated by Rodderick Williams.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

"It’s written for 16 solo vocalists and orchestra, and Vaughan Williams penned it for a very specific set of stars – a veritable who’s who of 1930s classical music." Explore the story behind Vaughan Williams' composition Serenade to Music here 👇

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

📣 Applications close on March 19, for the 2026 Cheltenham Festival Composer Academy 🎼 This great opportunity offers an intensive 5 days (July 6 – 10, 2026) of development for composers in the early stages of their career. Details here 👇

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

Enjoy Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5, recorded in Frankfurt in 2026, with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. 📺 Watch here 👇

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

🗓️ Applications for our 2026/27 scholarships close at the end of the month VWF PhD and MA Scholarships of up to £8K are open to applicants showing exceptional compositional talent and intending to make composition their professional career.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

"The orchestra played with great dramatic punch throughout… while the brass covered themselves in glory from top to bottom" – Limelight on the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simone Young, performing Britten and Vaughan Williams.

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Vaughan Williams Foundation

We know it's Monday, but let's look forward to the weekend! On Saturday in Beckenham, the Bromley Symphony Orchestra presents: "Vaughan Williams’ visionary 9th offset by Mendelssohn’s youthfully glowing violin concerto and Gershwin’s irresistibly jazzy ‘American in Paris’." Supported by the VWF 👏

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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.

BROWSE THE LETTERS

Letter of the Day

Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller

Letter No.: VWL4879

The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.

[ca 1950]

Dear Schwiller
Thank you so much for your letter – I was very sorry that in the hurry I missed [you] & could not say goodbye & Thank you.  But I do thank you very much, & I can’t tell you what a help you were at all those rehearsals.
I am glad you think my conducting has improved.
I do hope something will come from Abinger Hill School
with kind regards
Yrs R Vaughan Williams

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