Supporting innovation +
excellence in
contemporary arts
About the
Foundation
The Richard Thomas Foundation was established in 2009 to commission innovative and interesting works of contemporary performance art, and to support an ongoing programme of performances, recordings and exhibitions in London, Berlin, and elsewhere.
So far the Foundation has commissioned 21 composers; created or supported 17 recordings; and supported or promoted over 40 concerts. Many of the pieces we have commissioned continue to be performed all over the world, and some have won awards. Over 25,000 people have so far attended concerts to hear music we have helped commission.
The Foundation owns a record company, Junk Ibu Limited, with two labels: Junk Ibu for contemporary music releases; and RTF Classical for modern chamber music releases.
Recent News
New Commission: Joseph Phibbs
We have commissioned Joseph Phibbs to write his fourth string quartet for the Piatti Quartet to play, and to record along with his Quartets no.2 and no.3 (11/21).
Blog update
Richard posted one of his very occasional updates to his blog about recently released piano music he enjoyed over the last year.
New Release: “Ekstasis” by Gavin Higgins
We held a launch party for our latest CD, “Ekstasis” by Gavin Higgins, at Stone Nest in London. Cellist David Cohen and the Piatti Quartet played the sextet "Ekstasis" (commissioned by RTF in 2019); Thomas Gould played the "Welsh Folk Songs" for solo violin, both...
Concert series: MONOM Berlin
The second performance in our co-commissioned Autumn Series is "Marvin's Dream" - a spatialised music and dialogue based performance with a script mostly written by AI technology. Performance on 30 October - tickets available here....
New Commission: Robert Curgenven
As the third composer in our New Organ Works series, we’ve commissioned Robert Curgenven to create 2 new works at Het Orgelpark Amsterdam, and MONOM Sound Berlin. (10/21)
Concert series: MONOM Berlin
We co-commissioned a number of artists to work at MONOM Berlin over the Autumn to create new spatial sound pieces. The series started with C.P.I who presented their new work at 3 sold out concerts on 17 September at MONOM details here (9/21)
Laurence Crane
In celebration of his 60th birthday, we are supporting the “Festival of Laurence Crane” (07/21)
New recording: Paris 365
We are working again with musicians Claire Booth and Andrew Matthews-Owen on a CD of songs written in Paris in 1913-14. We’ll be in the recording studio in Spring 2022 with planned release in Autumn 2022. (05/21)
Kali Malone in Nantes
Kali Malone previewed some of her RTF commissioned compositions at the on-line Nantes Festival Variations on 28 March, 18.00 CET in a performance in La Chapelle de l'Immaculée with Stephen O'Malley and the choral Macadam Ensemble. (03/21)