In New York’s classical-music world most of the attention falls on the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the major visiting international orchestras, the glamorous soloists who can earn tens of thousands of dollars an appearance.

But night after night highly trained players play church jobs and weddings, Lincoln Center and Broadway summer festivals and fill-in jobs at the Met and the Philharmonic. They perform in a dozen freelance orchestras, put the music in Broadway musicals and provide soundtracks - or at least they used to - for Hollywood and Madison Avenue. They form the bedrock of musical life in a great cultural capital.

But the New York freelance musician is dying out. In an age of sampling, digitization and outsourcing, New York’s soundtrack and advertising-jingle recording industry has essentially collapsed. Broadway jobs are in decline. Dance companies rely increasingly on recorded music. And many freelance orchestras are cutting back on their seasons, sometimes to nothingness.

Some 520 musicians perform in freelance ensembles, said Jay Blumenthal, of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. He said the orchestra musicians generally earn $252 a performance, and $50 an hour for rehearsal.

Contracts for most of these orchestras expired in September, and the players face the likelihood of further cuts in pay. All these orchestras rely on donations and, to a small extent, government grants. The Great Recession has taken its toll.

“This is first time that there are quite a few managements coming to us and saying, ‘We just don’t have money,’ ” said Eugene Moye Jr., a cellist who serves on players committees in several orchestras. “Our jobs are melting away. ”

The Brooklyn Philharmonic, founded in 1954, has essentially stopped performing. The Long Island Philharmonic has only one concert scheduled this season.

The Queens Symphony has reduced its size to as few as 17 players from around 65. The Westchester Philharmonic, despite the star power of its music director, Itzhak Perlman, has $385,000 of debt and has had trouble paying its musicians.

In the face of such problems the American Symphony Orchestra , which is running deficits, has proposed a contract that would provide a regular paycheck to its players in exchange for their commitment to play more concerts , teach or play benefit concerts.

“We want this to work,” said Mr. Moye. But he added, “We will not be made into a group of indentured servants.”

The freelance life has always been fraught with uncertainty. But many musicians say they relish the variety and spontaneity.

“I have always been so thrilled and grateful for the music I get to play,” said Elizabeth Mann, a flutist in two elite ensembles. “The lack of stability is something you have to reckon with.”

Many musicians cite another sort of recession behind the dwindling opportunities: the Classical Music Recession. Benjamin Herman, 61, a veteran percussionist and freelancer, maintains that the P. D. Q. Bach concerts of the musical humorist Peter Schickele faded away not because the jokes weren’t funny but because audiences didn’t have enough musical knowledge to get them.

At the Broadway theaters the total minimum number of musicians has dropped to 335 from 526 in the early 1990s. (Theater closings contributed to the decline.) The increase in rock musicals has also cut into the freelance market.

On the recording front many producers are taking their business to cheaper orchestras abroad or using digitized music, and major studios have closed.

Musicians are clinging to the jobs that remain, making it tougher for younger ones to break in. Meanwhile, New York’s main conservatories pump out more than 500 degree holders a year. And universities and conservatories around the country also send graduates to New York.

The climate has forced many to adapt.

Younger, social-media-savvy musicians are forming their own groups, often with innovative programming, concerts in unexpected places - bars, art galleries and museums - and minimal pay.

“You do it yourself,” said Claire Chase, 32, a flutist who helped start and runs the International Contemporary Ensemble. “You don’t wait for people to discover you.”

Older freelancers are also trying to adapt. Dale Stuckenbruck, 57, of West Hempstead, New York, a violinist , has developed a specialty playing the musical saw and teaching youngsters to make traditional Chinese violins and instruments out of vegetables.

His enthusiasm for playing the violin, he added, has not waned. “ We love it so deeply,” he said. “It’s not a job. It’s our life.”


By DANIEL J. WAKIN