News

Eternal December concludes the launch year of the Eternal series curated by Sasha Elina and supported by RTF with a showcase of the choral performance Container written and directed by Alan Fielden, with music from Tim Cape (Bastards Assignments), prefaced by an act...

The Piatti string quartet’s new album of 3 string quartets by composer Joseph Phibbs is now released on CD and digitally through Nimbus.  String Quartet no.4 was commissioned by RTF, and received its London première at the CD launch concert at King’s Place on 8th...

The Piatti Quartet will be playing the prèmiere of Joseph Phibbs’ RTF commission - String Quartet No.4 - at Kings Place on Wednesday 9th October at 19:00. Tickets available here (09/24) Photo © Tiago Melo Ribeiro 2024

Eternal September welcomes Apartment House, one of leading collectives in the UK scene performing experimental and avant-garde music, created by cellist Anton Lukoszevieze in 1995.The programme features music by:Ramūnas MotiekaitisGretchen KorsmoTaku SugimotoBilly...

RTF, with the Carducci Music Trust as co-commissioner, has commissioned Vince Lamanga to write his first string quartet for the Carducci Quartet to play (08/24).

The first in a series of concerts promoted by Music Space Architecture and supported by the Foundation, Idrîsî Ensemble will be presenting their tribute to the trobairitz, where the medieval female voice resurfaces with timeless relevance. Interlacing Armenian, Greek,...

Pianist Noriko Ogawa will be playing the world première of Joseph Phibbs' Piano Preludes, commissioned by the Foundation, as part of the 32nd Rare Piano Music concert at the Bunka Kaikan Hall in Tokyo on 18 June 2024. Details here. (03/24) Photo (c) Satoru Mitsuta

We were in Utrecht last week for our second session of creating a recording for voice and electronics with Julia Sinclair and Marijn Cinjee, based around the music of Hildegard of Bingen.  Julia and Marijn spent a day exploring the acoustics in tunnels underneath...

We are supporting “Les Noces” created and performed by the dance company New Movement Collective, to be premiered at Woolwich Works, London on 13th and 14th January 2024. (01/24)

Echo Collective continue to tour two RTF commissions - Jóhann Jóhannsson’s “12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann” which receives its most recent performances on 15th December 2023 in Mechelen (BE); and on 2nd March 2024 in Heerlen (NL). The Collective is also touring...

We are supporting the first London event by "Music Space Architecture" (MSA) - an organ installation by German composer Eva-Maria Houben accompanied by curator and performer Sasha Elina on 20th November 2023 at St James' Church NW1. Tickets and info here. (10/23)

We welcome Nick Archer to the Trustee Board of the Foundation. Nick has an extensive background in public and voluntary service, and lifelong engagement with music, as a boy chorister and now as a pianist - and he has enjoyed close relationships with the Philharmonia...

Kali will be playing the world premiere of “Carved Windswept in Stone“, the second part of her RTF commission, on the 4DSOUND Spatial System at Stone Nest, London on 3rd and 4th May 2023.  Tickets available here  (03/23) Photo: Mauricio...

Alex will be playing the world premiere of “Layer Upon Layer Upon Layer“, a work commissioned by RTF, on the 4DSOUND Spatial System at Stone Nest, London on 25th April 2023.  Tickets available here  (03/23)

Robert will be playing the world premiere of “Unstable Steady States (A/B/F - extended)“, the first part of his RTF commission, on the 4DSOUND Spatial System at Stone Nest, London on 28th April 2023.  Tickets available here  (03/23)

RTF has commissioned "Eternities" a new long form spatial electronic composition by Oram Award winning composer Nicole Raymond (NikNak), due to premiere on 1 May 2023 at Stone Nest in London. Tickets available here (03/23)

RTF has commissioned a new long form spatial electronic composition by Ivor Novello-nominated composer Alex Groves, due to premiere on 25 April 2023 at Stone Nest in London. Tickets available here (12/22) Photo: Sam Le Roux

RTF is supporting, with the Pride Network (BNP Paribas Banking), a new song cycle by award winning composer Nathan James Dearden, due to premiere in August 2023. (10/22) Photo: Catrin Arwel

We are supporting this ambitious new project to create an international network of large scale spaces hosting residencies for performance artists, with plans to open in Rotterdam, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Belgrade and London by 2024 . Details here. (9/22)

The Piatti Quartet, David Cohen and Sara Roberts will be playing the world premiere of Gavin Higgins' RTF commission "Ekstasis" at the Aldeburgh Festival on 18th June 2022. Tickets available here (06/22)

We are helping violinist Rakhi Singh create and perform a spatialised violin and electronics concert at MONOM on 11th June 2022. Works include "Lad" by Julia Wolfe, originally for 9 bagpipes, and compositions by composers Edmund Finnis, Alex Groves, Emily Hall, and...

Kali will be playing the world premiere of the first part of her RTF organ commission on the Van Straten Organ at Het Orgelpark, Amsterdam on 10th June 2022.  Tickets available here  (05/22)

We’ve just filed our 10th annual report. Over the last decade we’ve helped 27 composers from 12 countries create new pieces of music; made 51 grants totalling £370,000; spent £60,000 on performances of new works at over 40 concerts; and recorded and released 18...

We helped Australian sound artist Oren Ambarchi create a spatial mix of his forthcoming album "Shebang" at MONOM in March, featuring Ambarchi on guitars and whatnot with special guests. Mixed in 4DSOUND by Tilo von Ketelhodt, William Russell & Oren Ambarchi. A...

Just back from a weekend at Wyastone Concert Hall recording for our next CD with Claire Booth, Andrew Matthews-Owen and producer sound engineer Raphaël Mouterde - 23 songs written in Paris between 1913 and 1914, including some that have never been performed (03/22).

RTF, with the Hattori Foundation as co-commissioner, has 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).

Richard posted one of his very occasional updates to his blog about recently released piano music he enjoyed over the last year.

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....

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)

In celebration of his 60th birthday, we are supporting the “Festival of Laurence Crane” (07/21)  

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 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)

We've commissioned Claire M Singer to create 2 new works at Het Orgelpark Amsterdam, and MONOM Sound Berlin. (6/20)

We've commissioned Kali Malone to create 2 new works at Het Orgelpark Amsterdam, and MONOM Sound Berlin. (4/20) Details here

The Foundation supported a performance of new compositions by John Lely and Laurence Crane at the concert programme "840, fifth anniversary concert" at Café Oto in London on 31 January. (1/20) 

A video art piece embodying AI and biotech “Panspermia” commissioned from Pinar & Viola  is on display in Berlin at  Bethanien from 17/12 to 05/01 and at Art Rotterdam from 05/02 to 08/02.  See the video here (1/20)  

Jonathan Dove's "Letters from Claude" commissioned by the Foundation was performed on 8 December at the Wigmore Hall, London, by Claire Booth and Sue Bickley accompanied by pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen as part of Jonathan's 60th birthday concert. (12/19)  

Echo Collective launch their recording of the RTF commission “12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann” by Jóhann Jóhannsson in a concert at Funkhaus Berlin Saal 1 on 20 September.  Further performances include Barbican London on 3 November.  The record is released as LP...

We've commissioned Gavin Higgins to write a string sextet on the theme of "ecstasy". (8/19)

The Foundation supported a performance of Éliane Radigue's Occam XXVI (2018) by the percussionist Enrico Malatesta at the concert programme "Music We'd Like to Hear 2019" in London on 12 July. (07/19)

With the PRS we’ve co-commissioned Claire M Singer to create a new work for the PRS New Music Biennial. Her piece, gleann ciùin, was performed with the London Contemporary Orchestra at the Southbank London on 5 July and in Hull on 14 July. (07/19)

We supported Renaud Wiser Dance Company's commissioning of composer Oliver Coates for Renaud’s choreography and performances of "Smoke Screens" (05/19)

"Songs and Vexations", is now released! The CD includes a new composition by Jonathon Dove (“Letters from Claude” commissioned by RTF), and was recorded by soprano Claire Booth, mezzo Sue Bickley and pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen in Monmouth in late May 2018. (03/19)

Following on from a session with Echo Collective at Jet Studio in Brussels last October, we had two recording sessions in January - in Amsterdam at Het Orgelpark with Ives Ensemble recording "Riflessi" by Richard Rijnvos, for release in October 2019, and in Berlin at...

We recorded Charlotte’s second album in Bremen in May 2018 with the Mariani Klavierquartett, Amaryllis string quartet, and pianist Huw Watkins, with a launch concert at the Purcell Room, Southbank in London on 16 October 2018 (10/18)

Financial Times article about commissioning music includes an interview with Richard Thomas (01/18)

160 people attended our latest concert including the world première of our Jonathan Dove commission "Letters from Claude" in what was one of the first concerts in the newly reopened Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre (3/18)  

We've commissioned Jonathan Dove to write a song duet for Claire Booth and Sue Bickley, accompanied by pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen. The piece will be based on the correspondence between Debussy, his wife, and his lover Emma Bardac (pictured) (11/17)  

Following our recording in Budapest in July 2017, our new piano CD now released - Andrew Matthews-Owen playing piano music by Hannah Kendall, Dobrinka Tabakova, and a set of Piano Preludes we commissioned from Joseph Phibbs. (10/17)

Charlotte Bray's Yellow Leaves, commissioned by RTF, was performed by Claire Booth and Andrew Matthews-Owen was on Radio 3 at the end of an international women's day broadcast (03/17)  

Classical Music Magazine published an article on the Foundation here (09/16)

Excerpts from Charlotte Bray's "Yellow Leaves" commissioned by RTF were performed as part of BBC Proms and broadcast on Radio 3 (08/16)

We held two launch concerts for our first CD - a recording of string quartets composed by Alec Roth, performed by the Allegri Quartet - at the Conway Hall in London on 22 May 2016, and at Piano Salon Christophori in Berlin on 25 May 2016.

Presto Classical interviewed Richard here about the new Alec Roth CD (5/16)

Gavin Higgins shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society's large scale composition award for Dark Arteries - a piece based on the original RTF Commission Sadly Now the Throstle Sings (4/16)