With the announcement of each bankruptcy or shutdown — Maui Land & Pine's pineapple fields, Gay and Robinson sugar, Aloha Airlines — a piece of Hawai'i dies. With the Honolulu Symphony, it's like a heart has stopped beating.

The demise of sugar began in the 1970s and pineapple has been faltering for nearly as long. Both represent the end of an era, though many families in Hawai'i don't have that tie to plantation heritage anymore. Aloha Airlines was a surprise. Its competitor Hawaiian Airlines had been in and out of bankruptcy twice; it almost seemed like being bankrupt was just a temporary excuse for poor service, not the beginning of the end. Restaurants and retail rise and fall with the economy, but the symphony has always endured.

If there was any doubt of the seriousness of the economic crisis, the announcement last week of the symphony's impending bankruptcy and the cancellation of the remainder of this year's scheduled concerts should sound the alarm. If the venerable organization that has survived two wars, the Great Depression and disco can't survive these times, what other pillars of our community could fall?

Perhaps the symphony doesn't hold a place in everyday life like Longs or Liberty House or Columbia Inn. Maybe you hadn't been to a concert in years, but you figured they'd always be there, especially for the kids. So many people in Hawai'i have memories of going to the symphony as part of a school excursion.

On Maui, long before the MACC was built, concerts were at the Baldwin Auditorium. On an island with few opportunities like art museums and science centers for field trips it was a rare morning of bliss when the Honolulu Symphony came to town. We were transported by what we heard. Today's children have more opportunities, but the symphony provides the same inspiration.

The image of the musicians steadfastly playing aboard the sinking Titanic has been used to describe the Honolulu Symphony. The musicians kept playing despite paychecks that were months late and then a sizable pay cut.

No wealthy benefactor stepped in to bail them out this time. Either the rich folks in town aren't so free with their money these days or they got tired of filling a hole that never stayed filled.

Bankruptcy does not necessarily mean the end. Some emerge from reorganization streamlined and determined and more vital than before. Hopefully that will be so for the Honolulu Symphony, because there is really nothing else that can take its place.