Anniversary gift - RCO Universe

In 2013, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will be celebrating its 125th anniversary with an exciting array of festivities including the biggest world tour ever undertaken by the orchestra and over seventy concerts at its home base, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Also in its anniversary year, the orchestra will be achieving a long-cherished dream, RCO Universe, harnessing new technologies to move even more listeners throughout the world, young and old alike, with its concerts. For this purpose, the RCO donors’ foundation Stichting Donateurs will be launching a fund-raising initiative on 1 September 2012 with the aim of raising sufficient funds from private donors to make this dream a reality.

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It’s a completely new dimension, one which will allow us after 125 years in existence to be within every listener’s reach.

Jan Raes, Managing Director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, explains, ‘We’re at a real turning point in the history of our orchestra thanks to the latest technological developments. It’s a completely new dimension, one which will allow us after 125 years in existence to be within every listener’s reach, the world over, day and night, digitally via a tablet app. This innovation will enable us to break open the walls of the concert hall and to reach many more listeners than would be possible with a single concert. The most fulfilling way to experience a concert is, and always will be, in the concert hall, but we no longer have to limit ourselves to the 2,000 seats available only to those who are in a position to attend the concert.’

Would you like to give the orchestra a gift for its 125th anniversary?

Enhanced concert recordings

RCO Universe will give you access to concert recordings with the same outstanding sound quality as heard on the RCO Live CDs, now accompanied by advanced video recordings. While listening to the music, you’ll also be able to watch what’s happening onstage, as if you were sitting among the musicians. But the digital platform has another unique feature – the recordings are enriched with a range of background information relating specifically to the concert, thereby providing you with an unparalleled musical experience. Now using your iPad, you can also view the score, read along with the lyrics to songs or save an interview with a conductor or soloist. You’ll even be able to see a painting or poem inspired by the particular piece of music you’re listening to.

The first specially enhanced concert recording, the RCO Meets Fink app, will be available from the end of August 2012 and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store (for €5.99).

Music education

We are developing digital teaching materials for use in schools which will be structured similarly to the enhanced concert recordings. One app can serve an entire classroom. This in itself offers unprecedented opportunities for providing support to music education throughout the Netherlands – from Groningen to Maastricht.

A gold mine

Step by step, RCO Universe will be unlocking the orchestra’s archives of historic recordings starting from 1926 alongside its concert recordings of today, thereby ensuring that every sound document produced by our world-renowned orchestra will be preserved and safeguarded for future generations in this musical gold mine.

Donation options

You can help the 125-year-old orchestra make RCO Universe a reality by making a generous donation of €1,250. You might consider making a one-time gift, or take advantage of even more tax benefits by spreading this amount over a five-year period in the form of a fixed-term charitable gift (lijfrenteschenking) of €250 a year. Those making a fixed-term charitable gift of €1,250 spread out over five consecutive years will automatically be made a member of the Golden Guild, a group of music-loving donors who enjoy a range of special privileges. Or perhaps you’re even considering making a donation of as much as €12,500 (or €2,500 a year for five years). Naturally, all other amounts are welcome, too.

F.A.Q.

Privileges one-time gift

Those making a one-time gift of €1,250 or more will enjoy the following privileges:
* unlimited digital access to the archives and the enhanced concert recordings during RCO Universe’s first year in existence; and
* a copy of the anniversary photo album Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam 1888–2013 published at the end of 2012 and bearing a personal word of thanks from Mariss Jansons.

Priviliges fixed-term charitable gifts

Fixed-term charitable gifts spread out over five consecutive years
* €250: you will also receive an RCO Live CD each year and our newsletter featuring information on the orchestra you won’t find anywhere else.
* €1,250: you will automatically be made a member of the Golden Guild.
* €2,500: you will also be our guest of honour at the Anniversary Concert given by the orchestra on 3 November 2013.