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. Our work addressing gender inequality in classical music is already renowned through our RPS Conductors programme which has given hundreds of women the chance to attain their rightful place on the conducting podium. We are proud that in our commissions of new music today, we achieve parity for women among the living composers we support. The spirit of the Ambache Charitable Trust also vibrantly allies with our own charitable object of fostering public curiosity and engagement in the treasures of classical music. 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. In continued consultation with Diana, we look forward to evolving the scope of what we offer in the years ahead.

Click here to visit the RPS Ambache Fund’s dedicated new webpages, where you will find full details of who can apply and guidelines for how to apply. 

The closing date for applications is 11am on Tuesday 31 March 2026.