2022 will see the music industry celebrate the 150th birthday of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 – 1958).
This will be a commemoration of international significance, with performances, recordings, publications and associated events, and the last major anniversary before his works go out of copyright.
Celebrations will be taking place up to and beyond the birthday on 12 October.
The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society is working with a number of partner organisations in raising awareness of RVW150, involving promoters, performers, publicists, media and recording labels and creating opportunities for the widest range of performances internationally, both amateur and professional.
Vaughan Williams’s work includes nine symphonies, five operas, music for film, ballet and stage, several song cycles, church music and works for chorus and orchestra.
The popularity of the composer’s most accessible works, in particular the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and The Lark Ascending, has never been higher, with Classic FM’s ‘Hall of Fame’ consistently voting these as listeners’ favourites.
The Symphony No.5 comes top in the ‘World Cup of British & Irish 20/21C Symphonies’ with the Romanza theme voted as one of David Hurwitz’s ‘World’s Most Beautiful Melodies’.
More information on the plans by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society’s plan to mark this 150th Birthday celebrations can be found at www.rvwsociety.com/rvw150