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The plot of the beautiful and clever 2008 Japanese film “Departures” begins with the protagonist playing the cello in a live orchestra performance of Beethoven’s ninth symphony, fourth movement finale.

The movement is known as “Ode to Joy,” and the scene is joyous. Then we learn the orchestra is being dissolved, and the protagonist owes money for the new cello he bought after landing the orchestra position.

While the orchestra demise becomes a bit of a MacGuffin as the plot moves on, it’s a compelling scene, a moment of musical bliss followed by the real-world pain from funding problems that can bring the day the music died.

The region hit just such a sour note this week when the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic announced it will play its last concert for the foreseeable future on Oct. 7. Executive Director Nancy Sanderson said the reason is as simple as do-re-mi, with the emphasis on dough.

The 45-year-old orchestra has $235,000 deficit and needs a total of $1.1 million to stage a full season. A media release also pointed out that administrative staff, including Sanderson and music director Lawrence Loh, have not received a salary in months.

This orchestra, like most, cannot survive on ticket sales alone. Sanderson noted that even a sold-out performance provides only 35 percent of the production costs.

A fundamental truth that leads to the ultimate bottom line: A community inevitably gets the orchestra it is willing to support. As Sanderson succinctly put it, “It’s time for the community to really figure out if they want an orchestra. It has to be everyone’s orchestra.”

Struggling orchestras are not news. If anything, they are almost the norm, and have been for some time — one reason the plot device in “Departures” was easily believable. Many of those that have succeeded have shrunk the classic play list — Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and many others — and increased the “pops” and movie music gigs.

Some have resorted to visual entertainment as well. It’s not hard to find online videos of a T-Rex conducting music from the Jurassic Park movies, or Darth Vader and Imperial Storm troopers sharing the stage with the orchestra during a Star Wars medley.

The decline of appreciation for classical music is a separate, though not necessarily unimportant, debate. There is substantial evidence that listening to classical music has many benefits for body, mind and soul. And there is an argument to be made that each generation should at least get an introduction to music that has stirred souls for two centuries or more.

But the Philharmonic is more than the music. It is a valuable asset, another tool in drawing top talent, a reason for people to invest in the region. It is a clear rebuke to the endless portrayals of our area as “hardscrabble, coalcracker country.”

The Philharmonic is worth saving, even if it means diminishing performances of the music it was first created to play. The question is, do we want to save it, and what will a save orchestra look like?

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