The Music Makers

The crowd cheers in standing ovation, audience members gripping the curve of the reddish wood balcony and looking down over the orchestra musicians. Some of them, dressed all in black, wipe away tears.

The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra has been a presence in the region for 50 years, when the symphony began playing in the Lincoln High School Auditorium. Since then, the orchestra's season grew from 13 shows to more than 200, and the SSO became a major force in Central New York education and culture. But April 2 marked the SSO's final concert before the orchestra's Board of Trustees suspended its artistic operations and laid off all of its musicians and most of its staff. Uncertainty awaits those musicians,

many of whom moved here from other cities for the orchestra alone. They look small under Setnor Auditorium's vaulted ceiling, dwarfed by a 3,823-pipe organ and the high Romanesque arch at the back of the stage.

The musicians smile at their supporters through tears. More than the lagging ticket sales or even the music itself, their stories narrate the orchestra's rise and fall.

The Cellist

Gregory Wood arrived in Syracuse more than 32 years ago after hearing about the SSO by accident. In Aspen, Colo., a fellow University of Cincinnati student mentioned the SSO, and Wood decided to add it to his audition list. He made the final rounds at the National

Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony orchestras, as well as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where he played after he graduated from Cincinnati's music conservatory.

But in the end, he chose Syracuse. Wood, who now plays assistant principal cello, moved to Syracuse in 1978 for the SSO. Syracuse's orchestra offered him a leadership position, and he wanted to play in a city smaller than his native New York. Nine years later, he started teaching cello at Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts. He even looks professorial, with his Greek nose and high forehead, cello in hand.

The orchestra was different when

he started, Wood remembers. Some of the musicians were teachers who still performed part-time on their instruments, and some were full-time performers left over from when the orchestra began in 1961. The skill level varied, but Wood watched the orchestra's quality improve over the years — and three decades later, he reminisces about how far the orchestra came.

He remembers the last time they played Carnegie Hall, in April 2003. It was the same night the SU men's basketball team played in the national championship game. After nearly selling out Carnegie, the orchestra headed to its reception at a hotel around the corner and watched SU win the national title on a big-screen

television. Wood says he hopes that won't be the last time the orchestra plays the renowned concert hall.

"I have faith in the community to rise up and demand that Syracuse keep the high-quality orchestra we have," he says. "It's one of the few things we can really have pride in."

The Clarinetist

Victoria Krukowski took up the clarinet in fourth grade, as soon as her front teeth came in. She wanted to play the flute, at first; but since her sister played the flute, Krukowski switched to clarinet. A young woman with chin-length brown hair and straight, stern brows, she smiles as she talks about her early love of music.

She grew up here, listening to the

SSO. Her music teacher used to pick up students from home and take them to the symphony. She remembers, as a teenager, hearing former principal clarinetist Gerald Zampino perform Mozart's clarinet concerto.

"As music students at the time, we had dreams to go to conservatory and play in an orchestra like this," she says.

Those dreams came true for Krukowski. She studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, and now plays second and E-flat clarinet for the SSO. She auditioned with B Victoria Krukowski, the last song that the SSO played on April 2. She played with the orchestra for 10 years and hoped she would play longer. To Krukowski, the Board of

Directors' decision to shutter the orchestra betrayed both the musicians and the community.

"I'm very thankful to the community that stepped forward to support us and show that they do indeed want this full orchestra here in Syracuse," she says. "It's a bittersweet mix of sadness, bewilderment, and also gratitude and hope for the future."

The Horn Player

Jon Garland played with the orchestra for 14 years. He came here after graduating from the prestigious Juilliard School, when he won an audition for the SSO. Garland knew nothing about Syracuse — he just wanted to play with its orchestra.

In addition to playing assistant

principal horn, this year he serves as the chair of the musicians' orchestra committee, representing the musicians to symphony management during negotiations. The musicians also called on him to speak at a February 5 press conference, where the orchestra advocated its "Keep the Music Playing" campaign. Garland, so accomplished on stage, shifts awkwardly and makes short bursts of eye contact behind the podium. He reads from a pre-written script in a low, even voice.

"The last two years have been difficult for the musicians of the orchestra," he intones, referring to the cuts and wage freezes the musicians took since 2009. "Though these sacrifices have been painful for the musicians, we decided to do these

things to keep a full orchestra here in Central New York."

Looking back, Garland says the SSO's finances took a downturn after 2006, when it started running up budget deficits. Before then, it balanced its budget eight years in a row. But after a change in upper-level management and programming — including less of a focus on the wider Central New York audience — the SSO entered a financial decline. At the press conference, however, Garland had only gratitude for the orchestra's Board of Trustees. His eyes jumping from audience to page, he thanked concertgoers, orchestra staff, and everyone who donated to the SSO's emergency campaign. It doesn't matter that their efforts failed. Garland, like many of the

musicians, says he believes the SSO will return in some form soon.

The Director

Daniel Hege stands with his chin up and head back, like he's bracing himself for something. Since moving to Syracuse with his wife, a violinist, in 1999, Hege not only led the SSO, but also conducted productions for the Syracuse Opera, taught at SU, and received an honorary doctorate from LeMoyne.

Hege says the outpouring of community support for the SSO overwhelmed him. Before the final concert began, he offered his thanks to those who supported the orchestra in its last-ditch effort to save the season. Decker's Wine & Spirits in Fayetteville

hosted a wine tasting to benefit the orchestra. Biographix Tattoo Studio in Syracuse inked music-related tattoos for a $25 donation to the SSO. Music students rallied behind their professors.

"It was just something so spectacular, it was beyond our wildest imagination," Hege says of the support. "They believe in something so beautiful that they want to share. Something so beautiful that it cannot be explained with words — only music."

But regardless of its beauty, the music ends. The SSO closes on Beethoven's sixth symphony, the last strains of string and flute fading into applause. As the musicians stand and walk off-stage, friends and relatives throng around them, offering hugs, handshakes, and flowers. These 77

musicians have every reason to be angry or disappointed, to feel sadness for the end of their orchestra and the disruption of their careers. But one refrain repeats among the musicians and their friends as they cluster at the side of the stage and move off toward the door. Several times they say to each other, "You have a lot to be proud of."