Former Allegheny Ludlum chairman Richard P. Simmons yesterday announced a $29.5 million pledge to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, launching a long-term capital campaign for the world-renowned but financially struggling institution.

It is the fifth-largest private gift ever to an American orchestra, said Larry Tamburri, the PSO president.

The gift is meant to give the orchestra some short-term breathing room while it restructures its long-term budgeting and goals. Mr. Simmons, the chairman of the orchestra's board, stipulated that the PSO can use part of the money immediately but must raise significant outside funds and have three years of balanced budgets to get the bulk of it.

In an emotional speech in the Heinz Hall lobby, Mr. Simmons, choking back tears, tried to deflect praise for the $29.5 million gift, saying it was merely part of an overall effort to raise some $72 million for the organization in coming years.

The gift "really isn't about me or my family, it's about the work that lies ahead for the Pittsburgh Symphony and this community in order to ensure the future of this organization as a world-class orchestra," he said.

The orchestra has experienced annual budget deficits of $1 million, $1.5 million and $500,000 the last three years. It has long faced a structural budget gap in which its fixed costs -- largely made up of musician salaries and benefits -- outpace its ticket revenues and other earnings. To make up the gap, the symphony gobbles money from its large endowment despite being under pressure for years to curtail that.

The symphony last had a truly balanced budget in the 1990s, said chief financial officer Bill Hart, and may not have another until the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

The symphony adopted a long-term strategic plan this summer. Symphony officials hope the gift announced yesterday, in conjunction with that plan, will lead a turnaround in its budget woes.

Mr. Simmons, 75, an MIT-trained metallurgist who led a $195 million management buyout of the specialty steel maker in 1980, structured the gift -- officially from the R.P. Simmons Family -- to hold the orchestra's feet to the fire.

Of the $29.5 million, $7.5 million is an upfront gift the orchestra can use immediately to help its budget; another $5 million will come in $1 million increments, as the symphony raises $25 million in outside funds; and the final $17 million will come after Mr. Simmons dies, provided the symphony has had three consecutive years of balanced budgets.

He also stipulated that the orchestra must remain independent; if it joins forces with an outside arts consortium (as some others have done to save money), the money flow stops.

Further details will be released after a PSO board meeting Nov. 29.

Mr. Simmons and others repeatedly said the onus is on other Pittsburgh-area funders -- the orchestra's board of directors, major individual donors, corporations and foundations -- to ensure the organization thrives over the long term.

"We have a community responsibility to protect the assets that were given to us and clearly the Pittsburgh Symphony is one of the great assets that the city of Pittsburgh has ever had," said Jim Rohr, chairman of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., as well as the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

The PSO strategic plan calls for raising the organization's profile in the Pittsburgh community, partially to help with such fundraising.

The orchestra is well-known internationally -- it received rave reviews for a European tour this summer and plays New York's Carnegie Hall Dec. 5. But after rounds of interviews with community leaders over the last year, symphony officials discovered the PSO is under-appreciated locally.

Deficit reduction plan
Orchestra officials said they have developed plans to eliminate its annual deficits; increase its $120 million endowment (while decreasing the annual draws from 6.5 percent to 5.25 percent); continue its world-class reputation (by hiring and paying high-level musicians); and make structural improvements to Heinz Hall.

The improvements could include enhanced lighting and rigging, new display windows and speakers on the outside of the theater, and sidewalk and foundation work, Heinz Hall manager Carl Mancuso said.

The 2,661-set theater was built as the Loew's Penn Theater in 1927 and reopened as Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts in 1971, after a $10 million renovation spearheaded by Henry J. "Jack" Heinz II. It received a second $6.5 million makeover in 1995 with the help of the Howard Heinz Endowment.

The Simmons gift also will have a direct impact on the orchestra's artistic excellence.

"As soon as I heard the number, my world started to change," said Robert Moir, vice president for artistic planning. "Starting now I can begin to think in more long terms."

The orchestra is currently at a base of 95 musicians, down from 99.

"[The gift] makes the orchestra continually attractive to anyone from the outside aspiring to be a part of this group as a musician," said Jim Gorton, oboist.

The symphony was founded in 1896. With yesterday's gift, Mr. Simmons is clearly in the pantheon of its greatest supporters, along with Mr. Heinz.

Mr. Simmons, a native of Bridgeport, Conn., began his career at Allegheny Ludlum steel in the 1950s. He was chairman of the company (later named Allegheny Technologies) for two decades before retiring in 2000. In 1996, his $20 million launched Birchmere Investments, a venture capital firm that seeds local start-up companies, one of which was the former FreeMarkets Inc.

He is also one of the city's leading philanthropists -- his $5 million pledge paid for a special exhibitions gallery at the Carnegie Natural History Museum that opened in 2003. He first became chairman of the symphony's board in 1990 but resigned after his wife Dorothy became ill in 1998, rejoining the board in 2002 after her death.

"After four years, I am convinced that we are on the right path," Mr. Simmons said. "I just hope that the community will walk that path with me and with us by giving our musicians the successful major campaign they need and deserve."