Staff Report

ROCKFORD – Rockford Symphony Orchestra Music Director Steve Larsen will retire after the 2020-21 season, he announced Wednesday.

“The 2020-21 season will be my 30th year as RSO Music Director, and I have decided that it will be a good time for me to retire, to figuratively ‘pass the baton’,” Larsen said in a release. “When I moved to Rockford in 1991, the RSO performed five concerts a year. Today we play three times that number, and the RSO has become the region’s premier performing arts organization. It is time for fresh, visionary leadership that can take the RSO to new levels.”

Larsen said several people have expressed interested in succeeding him.

“You will be overwhelmed by the number of people interested in becoming the new Music Director, and you will be stunned by the level of achievement evident in their curricula vitae. I look forward to welcoming our next Maestro or Maestra!”