RVW150

Celebrating Ralph Vaughan Williams 150 years after his birth.

In 2022-3 RVW150 celebrated Ralph Vaughan Williams with performances, recordings, new works and imaginative projects around the country (and beyond) to help widen our understanding of this many-faceted composer.

Get a taste of the celebrations with the small selection below.

Whoever thought Vaughan Williams a bit of a pastoral retrograde should hear this (Flos Campi)… it’s mad, bizarre and glorious. 

FIONA MADDOCKS, The Observer

Certain music is necessary at a certain time, and Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony struck me as something we need to hear now. It has this incredible strength and serenity: a feeling of ‘this is what the world could be when we emerge from this’.

SIR SIMON RATTLE, conductor

There’s an emotional honesty to his writing. His language is one which can be appreciated on so many levels.

TASMIN LITTLE, violinist

Thank you so much to this wonderful forward thinking musical organisation without which new music activities in the U.K. would be substantially curtailed.  

DARRAGH MORGAN and MARY DULLEA, Fidelio Trio

RVW150 NEWS

RVW resources for Music Teachers

A new programme produced by the Music Teachers’ Association, has been set up to provide resources for teaching about the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, from Early Years Foundation Stage through to Key Stage 5. Teaching resources are available completely free of charge to all schools and organisations running education projects and can be downloaded from the MTA.

FIND OUT MORE

New window celebrating RVW unveiled

A newly commissioned stained glass window by artist Thomas Denny, celebrating the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in the place of his birth, was unveiled at All Saints, Down Ampney.

FIND OUT MORE

Today’s composers celebrate RVW

Throughout the 150th anniversary celebrations a special series of new works inspired by RVW’s music, ideas, or life, were performed round the country.

FIND OUT MORE

News from the publishers

From the completion of a major unfinished score, to a composer’s cut of the 1948 film of Scott of the Antarctic, together with new editions, collections and orchestrations of well-loved pieces, RVW’s publishers continue to bring his work to new performers and audiences.

FIND OUT MORE

From pub to pulpit

From Pub to Pulpit created different programmes for each venue, bringing to life the musical journey of folk songs RVW collected, and later ‘borrowed’ for hymns

FIND OUT MORE

His music has an emotional honesty

‘A composer who believed that music should be felt, rather than described’

RVW 150 Ambassador, violinist Tasmin Little, on the enduring popularity of RVW’s music.

FIND OUT MORE

#RVW150

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Copyright or licensing questions about the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams? Our catalogue allows keyword or filter-by-category searches and lists the duration and principal publisher for each work. 💻 Find it via our website

see bluesky post

Jonathan Coe

An early response to LESSONS IN HARMONY which gets exactly what it's about. I'll be very happy if any of the print reviews are as empathetic as this.

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

A mid-week pause… Enjoy this 2016 recording of the orchestral version of Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, played by the Royal Northern Sinfonia, conducted by Richard Hickox, with violinist Bradley Creswick. Listen here 👇

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

"I can’t write love letters – but you know it's there (Here is a line for you to read between)" – Vaughan Williams in a letter to his second wife, Ursula. Find out more about Ursula Vaughan Williams here 👇

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

This Friday – Gaia x BBC Concert Orchestra: Sounds of the Earth 🌍 At the Southbank's Royal Festival Hall, staged under Luke Jerram’s Gia – a replica of Earth – will open with Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Details here 👇

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Did you know that the VWF not only supports the music of our founder but, at his request, that the majority of our funding helps composers? Find out what grants are available, how much they are worth and how to apply for them here: vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/funding/how-…

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

"On Tuesday, we turn to Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of Britain’s most distinctive musical voices. Inspired by English folk songs, he helped forge a new British pastoral style." @classicfm.com's Composer Carousel shines a light on the life and music of RVW. 📻 9pm, tomorrow, with John Brunning

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

On Friday, September 4, Andrew Manze conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in a celebration of English music, including Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 9 and Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, with its shimmering clouds of strings.

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

An interesting weekend watch/listen… Conductor Andrew Manze discusses working with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in 2014 on the Vaughan Williams Symphony Cycle, with a focus on A Sea Symphony.

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Find out more about funding opportunities offered by the Vaughan Williams Foundation here 👇

see bluesky post