Rockford Symphony Orchestra launches $500,000 ‘Larsen Legacy Campaign’ with announcement of $100,000 matching grant from The RSO Foundation

Rockford Symphony Orchestra Board officially launched “The Larsen Legacy Campaign,” a $500,000 fundraising effort named in honor of the RSO’s outgoing, 30-year Music Director, Steven Larsen.

To help kickstart the campaign, Keith Syfert, Rockford Symphony Orchestra Foundation President, pledged that the Foundation would match dollar-for-dollar the first $100,000 of donations received within the next five months.

The Larsen Legacy Campaign will raise funds to ensure the future of the RSO through innovation and sustainability. The RSO Board of Directors finds it profoundly important that when they hand over the reins to the next artistic leader, the RSO must be as fiscally strong as possible so he or she can have the flexibility to be progressive and experimental. With the onset of COVID-19, it was also clear that creating a substantial reserve fund was critical to weather the storm.

“This campaign will give us the resources to integrate technology into our program, find ways to support our vulnerable audience members who may not be able to enjoy live music, and create diverse programming to respond to cultural climate changes,” says RSO Executive Director Julie Thomas. “Now is the time to reimagine the orchestra, and we need the community involved in the process.”

Steven Larsen will retire at the end of the 2020/21 season after 30 years as music director. A search committee, led by Arnold Rosen, received applications from more than 200 from conductors across the world.

Finalists will be featured as guest conductors during the 2021/22 season and the next RSO Music Director will be selected by June of 2022.

RSO President Joe McCoy stated, “I can think of no better way to honor Steve’s exceptional service to our community than to ensure the future of the Orchestra he has led for three decades.”

The goal of the Larsen Legacy Campaign is $500,000. The Rockford Symphony Orchestra Foundation and its generous donors have offered the RSO a matching challenge of up to $100,000 for all gifts received within the first five months of the campaign. The RSOF will match dollar for dollar all cash gifts received.

“I invite the orchestra’s supporters to seize the opportunity to double the value of their gifts to the Larsen Campaign through the Foundation’s five-month, $100,000 matching grant, a grant made possible only because of the vision and generosity of the Foundation’s donors,” remarked RSOF President Syfert.

The Rockford Symphony Orchestra Foundation is a separate organization stewarding a permanent endowment to benefit the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. The Foundation prudently invests donated funds, which are never spent, to generate annual income in perpetuity for the RSO. The matching grant is in addition to the regular annual distributions made by the Foundation to the RSO.