RPS Beethoven 200 Appeal

One of Britain’s foremost musical charities invites you to help us in shaping the next chapter of classical music.

Appeal total including donations not made through Crowdfunder: £5287 including Gift Aid (updated Tuesday 1 April 2025)

Think of all the classical music you love. All of it began with a composer, each one reliant on others to help bring it into the world.

Think of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Remarkably, it was a group of music-loving individuals right here in the UK – the original members of the Royal Philharmonic Society – who gave Beethoven the means to create the piece. His thanks to them is recorded in his own hand on the manuscript score in the British Library.

Imagine being part of the circle that made that happen. As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of that extraordinary moment, we invite you to join us in helping a new generation of composers to make their own mark on the world.

In November 2024, the Royal Philharmonic Society (registered charity no. 213693) launched our new appeal to commission and support a host of composers whose talent and imagination stands to have a huge positive impact on audiences, but risks not being heard given limited opportunities and funding cuts UK-wide.

Your support will:

• cultivate our RPS Composers programme that grants a cohort of early-career composers a commission and premiere with a noted UK ensemble, festival or venue, and provides a year of professional development to help them build the profile, skills and contacts they need to build resonant careers.
• provide much-needed support to mid-career composers, giving them a new commission that captures fresh interest from audiences and performers, building better profile and recognition for them and their music.
• help make opportunities for composers who, despite great promise, find themselves unfairly marginalised owing to personal circumstances or background, giving them the opportunity to be heard.

A donation of any size will be dearly valued.

Whatever you can donate, you can have faith – given our care and our track record dating back to Beethoven – that we will ensure it makes a transformative difference to composers in need. All donors will receive a personal thank-you from one of our current RPS Composers.

If you have the means to help at a higher level, we will be so pleased to create a special association for you…

A donation from £400

We will ensure you are recognised for the care and appreciation you have for today’s music-makers, and offer you:

• acknowledgement of your kind support of our appeal on the RPS website.
• a lasting credit for you, and all who support at this level, printed in the scores of the new works our 2025 RPS Composers are writing, ensuring your name will take its place within our historic collection of manuscripts dating back to Beethoven’s Ninth.

A donation from £900

We are pleased to offer a musical experience you’ll never forget, and the opportunity to meet some of the composers whose prospects you are helping us to transform. In addition to the benefits pledged above, you will also receive:

• an invitation to meet our 2025 RPS Composers, and be thanked in person for your support, at our annual networking event where we introduce the composers to key industry figures, in October 2025.
• a pair of stalls tickets – while stocks last – for a concert marking the 200th anniversary of the UK premiere of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, performed by Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra, on Sunday 23 March 2025 at the Barbican.

We – and the composers we support – are sincerely grateful for any gesture you can make.

ABOUT THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY

For over 200 years, the Royal Philharmonic Society has been at the heart of music, creating opportunities for musicians to excel, championing the vital role that music plays in all our lives. It all began in 1813 when a group of musicians set out to establish a series of orchestral concerts in London. The Society’s regular performances attracted world-class artists including Mendelssohn and Wagner, and it commissioned exhilarating new music for an eager public to hear: most famously, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In its founding gesture, the Society created a lasting culture. Other orchestras found their footing and their music resounds across Britain today. 

200 years later, the Society continues to celebrate and empower musicians who – like its founders – strive to enrich society with all that they do. Through grants, commissions, coaching and performance opportunities, the RPS helps exciting young performers and composers find their voice. Through the renowned annual RPS Awards, the Society celebrates the quality, impact and ingenuity of the finest artists and creative forces at work today. Through its Membership, the RPS aims to cultivate national pride and curiosity in classical music, and rouse audiences to recognise the vital and valued role they play in the country's thriving musical heritage. Through all its endeavours, the RPS is dedicated to proving classical music’s rightful and powerful place in society. 

royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk

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