Women have always played a central, creative role in the story of music. Only lately has the modern world started to recognise and embrace this. Gradually, outstanding and inspiring music by women – often overlooked for decades, even centuries – is finding its rightful place onstage. This is a time of rich and rewarding discovery, for performers to excavate jewels from history to brighten their repertoire, and for audiences to embrace so many wonders just waiting to be cherished.

A true pioneer in all this is the musician Diana Ambache who, around 40 years ago, set about raising awareness and engagement for music composed by women throughout the ages. In this mission, Diana established the Ambache Charitable Trust which has done so much to raise the profile of women composers and help get their music heard. Previously a registered charity in itself, we are delighted in agreement with Diana and her fellow Trustees to make a new home for this venture here at the Royal Philharmonic Society, as the RPS Ambache Fund. We invite you to discover more about Diana and the achievements of the Ambache Charitable Trust here.

With the funds it has bestowed at the RPS, over several years, we will annually offer a number of grants to encourage UK-based performers, ensembles, venues and festivals to put exceptional yet overlooked music by historic women composers at the heart of their programming, and take pride in telling audiences about such composers worth discovering. We trust this will not only be valued fuel for music-makers; we look forward to telling music-lovers about the initiatives we support, opening their ears to captivating music they have likely not heard before.

The closing date for applications is 11am on Tuesday 31 March 2026. In continued consultation with Diana Ambache, we look forward to evolving the scope of what we offer in the years ahead.

This year, we expect to offer a total of £16,000 in grants, likely split between 3 or 4 recipients, with grants in the region of £3,000 to £5,000 each. The closing date is 11am on Tuesday 31 March 2026. We regret we cannot consider applications received after this. We expect to let applicants know outcomes in June 2026. Given this, activity for which you are applying should not be scheduled to take place prior to July 2026.

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.

We look forward to applications from a broad range of performers and organisations. Performers applying themselves should have already launched their career and no longer be in education/training nor applying for development programmes. Performers can be UK-based soloists or ensembles of any size, instrumental or vocal, who regularly perform classical music. Organisations that produce classical music performances in the UK may also apply, if you have a demonstrable track record of achieving this to a high standard with proven success drawing significant audiences and profile. This may include venues, festivals, and also music colleges.

As a charity, we 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 March 2023), we ask you not to apply at this time.

We continually strive to address how we can minimise barriers to the widest possible range of applicants. We 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 our offer – or the experience in applying for it – could inhibit you or another candidate from applying, please do let us know (our contact details are below) and we will be happy to address this.

How to apply

For details on how to apply, please read the application guidelines linked here. These provide a step-by-step guide to the process and should address any questions you may have. For inspiration, they also provide some links through which you can discover the music of more historic women composers that deserves to be heard. We encourage you to read them in full before completing our online application form linked below.

Having read the guidelines, if you have further questions, please get in touch. In the first instance please contact Emily Porter, RPS Administrator, by email at admin@philharmonicsociety.uk or phone on 020 7287 0019.

As noted, the closing date is 11am on Tuesday 31 March 2026.

Next steps

After the closing date, applications will be read with care by RPS management, in consultation with Diana Ambache and a further guest expert. Thank you for your patience as we fulfil this. We aim to let all applicants know outcomes in June 2026. You can read about consequent steps for successful candidates following this in our application guidelines.