A $1 Million Gift Opens Doors for Young Musicians
Ernst Volgenau’s gift honors longtime friend and former Board President Ted Legasey, creating lasting support for school concerts and music scholarships across the Lowcountry.
A friendship of more than 50 years is creating new possibilities for the next generation of musicians and music lovers. The Charleston Symphony has received a $1 million endowment gift from philanthropist and business leader Ernst Volgenau in honor of his longtime friend and business partner, former CSO Board President Ted Legasey. The gift establishes two $500,000 endowed funds supporting experiences that can change a young person’s relationship with music: discovering a live orchestra and having the resources to pursue their own musical talent.
Discovering the orchestra
The newly named Legasey Young People’s Concerts will continue to bring thousands of students into the concert hall for an experience that begins long before they take their seats.
Presented with the Charleston Gaillard Center using Carnegie Hall’s Link Up curriculum, the concerts will welcome nearly 6,000 students from more than 40 schools annually. Students prepare in their classrooms, then join the Charleston Symphony in singing and playing instruments alongside the orchestra.
For many, this concert is their first experience hearing a live symphony. Complimentary admission and transportation assistance help students from Title I schools and underserved communities participate. The endowed fund will play a critical role in sustaining these opportunities for generations to come.
“My gratitude to Ernst for this most generous gift in honor of my work is unbounded. My surprise upon learning of this gift is exceeded only by my joy that it will enable the CSO to enhance the lives of countless young Charleston aspiring musicians who will benefit for many years from Ernst’s kindness and generosity.”
Helping young musicians take the next step
The Legasey Scholarship Fund will support young musicians in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties through scholarships and mentorship opportunities.
Awards may help students access private lessons, summer programs, instruments, intensive study, and college music education. Selection will consider musical potential and demonstrated financial need through a competitive audition process.
Expected to serve five to fifteen students annually, depending on their needs and available funding, the program will connect financial assistance with guidance from CSO musicians and local educators. It will complement the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League’s longstanding support for young musicians.
“At a critical moment for the Symphony, Ted made difficult decisions that laid the foundation for the success we enjoy today. Ernst’s generosity honors that leadership by helping young people discover music and pursue opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.”
Carrying Ted’s leadership forward
During the Great Recession, Legasey helped guide the Symphony through a restructuring that would shape its future. He championed an innovative model built around 24 full-time professional musicians, disciplined fixed costs, and room to expand its variable expenses as community support grew. Behind those decisions was a conviction that Charleston deserved an orchestra whose performances, educational work, and community relationships could enrich life across the Lowcountry, and an organization strong enough to sustain that service through good times and bad.
Volgenau’s gift carries that commitment forward through lasting investments in young people and building increased capacity for the organization's future. The Charleston Symphony is preparing its next endowment campaign with a long-term aspiration: a funded endowment equal to five times its annual operating budget, approximately $35 million at present budget levels. Such a foundation would provide sustained support for its musicians, educational programs, and community work, giving the organization greater capacity to plan and invest for the future.
A Symphony growing with Charleston
The extraordinary demonstration of support comes at a time of exceptional momentum for the Charleston Symphony.
Over the past decade, the organization has evolved from a financially challenged orchestra into a growing cultural institution with expanding artistic ambitions, a broadening audience, and a strengthened financial foundation.
Today, the Symphony reaches approximately 70,000 adults and children annually through more than 160 performances, educational programs, and community events. Audiences have grown 85% since just before the pandemic, and the organization's operating budget has expanded from approximately $1.3 million in 2013 to nearly $7 million.
In its most recent fiscal year, the CSO sold more than 19,000 individual tickets, up 19% from the previous year, and welcomed approximately 2,500 new households. Those gains represent new relationships with listeners and families who will help shape the orchestra’s next chapter.
Donors have matched that momentum. Over the past three years, the Annual Fund has grown from approximately $2 million to more than $3 million, with annual philanthropic support now approaching $3.5 million. That investment has helped the Symphony expand its work while maintaining the financial discipline that Ted helped implement more than a decade before.
Recent endowment fundraising, including the Music Matters initiative launched in 2021, has also strengthened the Symphony’s long-term foundation. As of June 30, 2026, total endowment funds supporting the CSO stood at $13,295,784, including $2,674,002 in donor-advised endowment funds held by external sponsoring organizations for its benefit. Separately, approximately $8 million in documented planned gifts represents future philanthropic commitments, rather than current endowment assets.
The Symphony's historic Carnegie Hall debut in 2025 brought national attention to the orchestra's artistic accomplishments. Equally important has been its expanding commitment to education and community engagement throughout the Lowcountry.
Much of what the CSO is accomplishing today rests on the foundation that Ted and others established during a difficult period in the Symphony's history. Ernst's extraordinary generosity is a fitting tribute to that leadership. By investing in education and young musicians, this gift will help ensure that the Symphony's success is measured not only by what happens on the concert stage, but by the difference we make in people's lives.
Ryo Hasegawa conducts the Charleston Symphony and a hall full of Lowcountry students for "Oye" at the 2026 Young People's Concert.
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