DEWITT -- Fred Klemperer joined the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra 42 years ago straight out of college.
Playing the violin is all he's ever known.
But now that the Orchestra has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Klemperer is out of a job.
It was a very quick shutdown with Chapter 7 and it shocked everyone," he said.
Klemperer is just one of dozens of musicians who've been handed pink slips in the last week, after drastic to efforts to keep the SSO afloat failed. But Sunday night, former members of the Orchestra kept true to their commitment to the DeWitt Community Church, playing one last concert together before a packed house.
"It's nice to be able to come out and play because it shows the commitment of the musicians to keep the music going," said Stephanie Koppeis, who also lost her job after being with the SSO since 2005.
Like many musicians, she told me her future is still up in the air. But according to Koppeis, some of the younger musicians are already planning on moving out of the area come this summer. For them -- they don't have much of a choice.
That's tough news to hear for long-time supporter Patty Knapp, who told me it's gotten pretty emotional in her household after she heard the SSO would be dissolving.
"I hate to see some of the younger ones might be driven out of the community," she said. "Isn't that who we want to keep here?"
Like musicians, the future of the Orchestra itself is still unclear as well. But former musicians and supporters of the SSO agree they'd like to see it come back in some way -- saying it adds culture to the Central New York community.
