Royal Philharmonic Society: RPS Thea Musgrave Fund - Performance Grants

Overview

The RPS Thea Musgrave Fund, launched in April 2025, introduces two new initiatives devised with Thea and Peter for which music-makers can apply. 

RPS THEA MUSGRAVE PERFORMANCE GRANTS

Thea’s remarkable catalogue of compositions spans decades and is a veritable treasure trove for performers and programmers. Following the huge success of her Mary, Queen of Scots staged by the ENO in February 2025, they are committed to encouraging more musicians and musical organisations to delve in, discover and embrace Thea’s works, and share them with UK audiences. 

They are offering several grants to help performers, ensembles, festivals and venues to put Thea’s music at the heart of their UK programming, and distinctively promote it to captivate audiences. 

In 2025/26, they expect to offer a total of £20,000 in grants for this, likely split between 2 or 3 recipients, with grants in the region of £5,000 to £10,000 each. 

At this level, they do not expect grants to cover your performance plans outright, but represent a useful contribution to help you present Thea’s music notably in forthcoming concerts, in a dedicated festival, or across a season. In future years, they hope to offer larger grants to support the recording of Thea’s works and staging of her operas.

Who can apply?

As the RPS exists to support UK music-making, these grants are for established UK-based performers, and organisations that produce classical music performances in the UK.

They look forward to hearing from a broad range of applicants. 

• Performers who apply should have already launched their career and no longer be in education/training nor applying for development programmes. 
• Performers can be soloists, duos, or chamber ensembles. 
• You can also apply if you organisationally or individually produce classical music performances in the UK, so long as you have a demonstrable track record of achieving this to a high standard with proven success drawing significant audiences and profile. 
• They expect ensembles, venues, festivals and independent promoters to be among the applicants.

As a charity, they are keen to support a wide range of musicians and initiatives.

• If you have already received any kind of funding from the RPS within three years of the closing date (since 1 July 2022), they ask you not to apply at this time, but if eligible you may do so in a future year once that period has expired.

Applicant Notes

They continually strive to address how they can minimise barriers to the widest possible range of applicants. They are proud to adopt Sound and Music's Fair Access Principles and are signed up to the Keychange initiative, aiming to achieve 50:50 parity of marginalised genders in those they support. 

They warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly under-represented demographics, such as those who represent the global majority, those who are disabled, and those from working class backgrounds. If you feel that any part of their offer – or the experience in applying for it – could inhibit you or another candidate from applying, please contact them as they are to address matters.

The above criteria and application process below applies to the RPS THEA MUSGRAVE COMPOSITION GRANTS, click here to find out more.  the grants under this scheme aims to support established composers writing a new work for soloist, duo, or chamber ensemble – not only contributing to their commission, but within each grant vitally giving them and their intended performers some means to devote focused workshop and rehearsal time to its creation. This year, they expect to offer a total of £20,000 in grants for this, likely split between 2 or 3 composers.