Clockwise: RPS Annual Report; presenting the RPS Gold Medal to Arvo Pärt; Beethoven's Ninth with the LSO; an RPS conversational event; our 2025 RPS Composers cohort

Annual Report and Accounts

We are pleased to present a positive overview of the charity’s progress and achievements in our Annual Report and Accounts.

Each year, we publish our Annual Report and Accounts for the previous financial year which, at the RPS, runs like the UK concert season from September to August. When each year ends, it takes some time for an external auditor to fulfil their independent examination of the year’s accounts, and for Trustees to compile their report of the year. Once complete, the Annual Report and Accounts are shared with RPS Members ahead of the Annual General Meeting in May. 

The key elements of the Annual Report and Accounts are:

  • Chair’s introduction
  • Achievements and performance, regarding each of our charitable objects
  • Financial review
  • Comprehensive accounts, independently examined

You can read our most recent Annual Report and Accounts by clicking the button below, and previous editions further down this page.

RPS ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2024-25

As it’s a significant document charting a whole year in the life of the charity, we also present the following overview:

SUMMARY 2024-25

Achievements and performance

  • The RPS celebrated 200 years since its original Members here in the UK commissioned Beethoven to write his Ninth Symphony and gave its first UK performance: the occasion was marked with several public events and a landmark performance by the Sir Antonio Pappano and London Symphony Orchestra: a powerful reminder of classical music’s positive enduring power.
  • The charity’s flagship event, the RPS Awards – described as ‘the biggest night in UK classical music’ by The Sunday Times – was presented for the first time ever in Birmingham, to a capacity audience at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where, among the recipients, disabled musicians prevailed in three categories: Paraorchestra (RPS Ensemble Award), Belfast’s Open Arts Community Choir (RPS Inspiration Award) and composer Sarah Leanne Lewis (RPS Chamber-Scale Composition Award).
  • Composers supported by the RPS had premieres nationwide in locations including Portsmouth, Norwich, Sheffield, Presteigne and London. The charity launched the major new RPS Thea Musgrave Fund, with support from the great Scottish composer and her husband Peter Mark, to benefit a range of UK composers and performers, and the new RPS Featured Composer initiative – supported by the John Ellerman Foundation – to draw greater awareness and interest to the music of mid-career composers. In total, the RPS gave composers £63,350 in hand this year for the commission of new music, as well as helping them with advice, contacts and bespoke developmental opportunities.
  • £18,000 of grants were given to 21 music college students in urgent need of funds to buy instruments of their own. Positively addressing gender equality, the RPS Women Conductors programme entered its fifth fruitful year of partnership with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and was showcased at the UK largest classical music forum, the Association of British Orchestras Conference. In total, £63,400 this year went directly to performers, as well as substantial guidance and mentoring.
  • The RPS travelled to Estonia to present its highest honour, the RPS Gold Medal, to the iconic composer Arvo Pärt in the week of his 89th birthday. The RPS Gold Medal was also presented in London to cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composer/conductor Thomas Adès. RPS Honorary Membership was also presented to founder of the Nash Ensemble Amelia Freedman, composer/conductor Sir James MacMillan, and the trumpeter and music education champion John Wallace.
  • The charity continued to rouse public curiosity and engagement in classical music with its talks and events, and through a range of online content and specially-made films, and its popular Philharmonic magazine and distinctive Discover newsletter for RPS Members.


Financial review

  • The RPS broke even on unrestricted funds for fifth consecutive year: an achievement only possible thanks to the ongoing support of RPS Members and a range of trusts and companies who believe in the charity and its cause.
  • The year overall saw a moderate gain on investments, managed by Cazenove Capital, though as always these represent unrealised gains and – with ongoing global and financial uncertainties – the charity remains dearly grateful to its funders as we strive to achieve lasting stability without statutory funding.
  • At year end, unrestricted reserves stood at £160,780, slightly under the reserves policy target of £170,000 which Trustees deem necessary to cover six months of operating costs.

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