Honolulu Symphony officials yesterday called a $1.175 million donation from an anonymous donor a blessing, but said that with more than $2 million remaining in long-term debt, the orchestra is not out of the woods yet.

"The symphony has a long history of going up and down," said Tom Gulick, the Honolulu Symphony's executive director. "I want to be very clear to the public that this is not a permanent fix. We are still working on it."

The gift from the first-time donor is the largest individual donation in the organization's history, symphony officials said in a news release yesterday.

"I chose to donate to the symphony at this time because I believe that it is a vital organization that we must preserve and protect for future generations," the donor, who was not named, said in the release. "Like libraries and museums, a symphony cannot be replaced overnight — it could take decades to rebuild such an institution."

Gulick yesterday called the donor a "true angel" who was concerned that musicians, who had gone without pay for 11 weeks, would leave the orchestra.

"She is someone who's been around the symphony for decades and just loves the orchestra," he said.

The donation was secured last week and allowed the organization to pay its musicians and stagehands seven weeks of back pay on Friday. Gulick said he expects them to be fully paid by the end of May. The final concert of the 34-week season is scheduled for Sunday (5/18) at Blaisdell Concert Hall.

The symphony has struggled financially for years but ran into a "perfect storm of events" this past September-to-May season, Gulick said.

From September to December, the orchestra was displaced from its regular venue, the Blaisdell Concert Hall, by "The Lion King" tour, leading it to seek out smaller — often more expensive — performance spaces.

Ticket sale revenues also decreased by at least $500,000 because of the venue changes. The symphony's annual operating budget rose from $6 million or $7 million to about $8 million.

Gulick said he hopes the recent donation, along with a three-year campaign launched last summer that aims to raise $6 million, will let the organization pay back its long-term debt and several hundred thousand dollars owed to vendors. More than $600,000 poured in from about 800 donors after symphony officials revealed in December that musicians and staff were forgoing paychecks.

"I believe we've reached a tipping point," he said.

"The donation helps us move forward. With (the public's) help over the next two years we can put a permanent fix in place."

Musicians yesterday celebrated the donation while echoing concerns about the institution's financial future.

Paul Barrett, chairman of the orchestra committee, whose wife also plays in the symphony, said financial concerns drove several musicians to leave in the middle of the season.

"This gets us closer, but we're not out of the woods yet," he said.

Barrett said the symphony has been historically underfunded by government and the community, despite its contributions to Hawai'i's culture and economy.

"We're not asking for a handout, we're asking for an investment," he said. "This is not just going towards musicians' salaries, it's going to the community."

Gulick said ticket sales have been "very solid" for tomorrow's Symphony Ball at the Hawai'i Convention Center — the symphony's biggest annual fundraiser, which usually takes in anywhere from $250,000 to $400,000. More than 700 people have purchased tickets.

The goal now is stability and to shake the image of "going from crisis to crisis," Barrett said.

"We encourage the community to take ownership of their orchestra," he said. "We can do great things for the city, if we're there. If we're not there, it's a terrible loss. We're optimistic it can happen."