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

Find out more about the support we offer via our website 💻

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

"This is music about the struggles to hold onto life in the jaws of old age and death" – @bachtrack.com on the recent performance of Vaughan Williams’ 9th Symphony at the BBC Proms. Read the full review here: bachtrack.com/review-manze…

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Live at the BBC Proms: Andrew Manze conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in a celebration of English music, featuring works by Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and Carmel Smickersgill. 📻 👇

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Vaughan Williams recounts a meeting with Elgar at the Three Choirs Festival…

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Ralph Vaughan Williams (October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958) was one of the great symphonists of the 20th century. He remains one of our most popular composers. Explore his life and work via a significant collection of images and correspondence held in our archive and accessible via our website.

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

In this BBC Radio 3 programme, Jonathan Swain surveys recordings of Vaughan Williams' 9th Symphony and makes a recommendation. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/…

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

If you can find a few moments this weekend, this 1984 film by director Ken Russell tells Ralph Vaughan Williams' story through the eyes of his widow, Ursula Vaughan Williams, with personal remembrances from those who knew him. 📺 👇

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Tonight at 7pm!

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

"In the next world I shan't be doing music, with all the striving and disappointments. I shall be being it" – Ralph Vaughan Williams

see bluesky post

Vaughan Williams Foundation

Thousands of pieces of correspondence relating to the life and work of Vaughan Williams can be found on our website ✉️ These often include messages or observations from Ralph, and there are also letters from Adeline and Ursula Vaughan Williams. Explore: vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/let…

see bluesky post