Great art requires great support. The artist Leonardo da Vinci had the Medici family backing his work. The composer Tchaikovsky had Nadezhda von Meck, his mysterious patroness who refused to ever meet face to face.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has the Simmons family.

In recent decades, Richard “Dick” Simmons and his family have contributed more than $50 million to the orchestra, which operates on a $34 million budget that runs primarily on donations.

To honor the family’s contributions to the orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony on Wednesday announced that it would name the Heinz Hall stage the Simmons Family Stage during a performance with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Naming or renaming performance spaces after significant gifts or lifetime contributions isn’t uncommon in the f

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