SAN MATEO – The Peninsula Symphony is making music again, thanks to the generosity of members and supporters who rallied to raise money for the volunteer organization after an embezzler emptied the orchestra’s bank accounts.

The symphony lost $500,000 when Jay Carlton, its unscrupulous former executive director, nearly bankrupted the organization, said Alan Bien, chairman of the symphony board.

“We trusted him. The whole board trusted him because he was giving us financial reports that seemed to be reasonable,” Bien said.

“We’ve pretty much lost everything, and so this is a very, very devastating situation for us.”