Fort Greene Orchestra<\/a>, which began offering seasonal concerts at the Co-Cathedral last year. The rotating ensemble has amassed a faithful following of fans thanks to the unique approach of its conductor \u2013 and catchy\u00a0Instagram ads.<\/p>\nDaniel Zinn, 32, is the mastermind behind the operation. He\u2019s a violinist by training, and started producing concerts a little less than a decade ago. As a conductor and artistic director of the orchestra, Zinn has made it his mission to create concerts for the classically curious. With short run-times, affordable tickets and moody set design, the orchestra has been attracting a\u00a0diverse audience, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClassical concerts haven’t really evolved in the past 100 years,\u201d Zinn said. \u201cIt seemed a shame to me. We have a new generation of musicians, a new generation of producers and it’s our job to take it further into the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project started out small, as the Fort Green Chamber Music Society. In 2023, Zinn set out on an ambitious mission to turn it into a full orchestra \u2013 one totally dependent on ticket sales, rather than donors or grants. When an agreement with another local church fell through before the orchestra\u2019s first performance, Zinn found a new home at the Co-Cathedral on Pacific Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably the most magnificent church in Brooklyn,\u201d Zinn said. \u201cI was completely awestruck.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nPhoto: Emily Davis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
Setting out to fill such a large venue was a gamble that paid off. The orchestra\u2019s first two performances in October 2023 sold out, packing the pews with an estimated 1,200 attendees each night. The average age of the audience, Zinn said, is\u00a0about 35.<\/p>\n
The orchestra features a rotating roster of 30 to 80 musicians from across the city. This most recent concert also included the cathedral\u2019s choir.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an immense privilege to be working with the best of the best,\u201d Zinn said. \u201cSo we start rehearsals, usually two to three days before our first performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
DJ Zentla began performing with the orchestra as a bass trombonist in its earliest days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re usually sold out, which is very rare nowadays,\u201d Zentla said. \u201cEven some of the smaller, more established orchestras have to give away seats for free.\u201d<\/p>\n
The more recent production in October marked the orchestra\u2019s fourth concert series. It centered around Mozart\u2019s Requiem, and attendees who arrived a bit too close to the 8:00pm start time found themselves shepherded through the aisles by harried ushers and squeezed into open spots along the pews.<\/p>\n
Zinn said he aims to craft shows that his friends would like to attend. The resulting concert style\u00a0is one he\u2019s been developing for years, boiling down to short shows, just 60 minutes long, with no intermission.<\/p>\n
Last year, Zinn began a collaboration with light designer Christopher Gilmore. Gilmore designed the October show around the style of the Great Hall as seen in Harry Potter\u2019s Hogwarts Castle. Attendees poured into October\u2019s concert to the sound of the church\u00a0organ playing behind them, with electric candles strung overhead and a fog machine flooding the stage. The aim is to get audiences in the mood before the first note is played, Zinn said.<\/p>\n
“We try to create an atmosphere that is more conducive towards deeper listening,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
As promised, the performance lasted exactly 60 minutes, but it packed a punch, from stunning solos by the choir to a powerful rendition of Mozart\u2019s famous Requiem.<\/p>\n
Laura Folco, a Brooklyn resident who attended the concert last month, said she\u00a0learned about the show from Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve always loved the Requiem, but I’ve never seen it live,\u201d Folco said. \u201cI figured it\u2019s the perfect time of year for that kind of thing. I checked it out, and it was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fort Green Orchestra’s next performance will be a pre-Thanksgiving special concert on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23, featuring Felix Mendelssohn\u2019s Violin Concerto. Notably, the orchestra\u2019s website<\/a> lists the concert\u2019s vibe\u00a0as \u201cIn love and extroverted,\u201d and suggests a dress code of \u201cDeep Autumn Colors.\u201d For more information on tickets, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By: Emily Davis On a recent late October night, a line wrapped around the block at the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph, as Brooklynites gathered for a night of Mozart at the historic Brooklyn church. This was one of three sold-out performances by the Fort Greene Orchestra, which began offering seasonal concerts at the Co-Cathedral last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5904,"featured_media":22815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,45,524,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dance","category-arts","category-brooklyn-events","category-whats-buzzin"],"yoast_head":"\n
Brooklyn's Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts - Brooklyn News and Events<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brooklyn's Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Emily Davis On a recent late October night, a line wrapped around the block at the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph, as Brooklynites gathered for a night of Mozart at the historic Brooklyn church. This was one of three sold-out performances by the Fort Greene Orchestra, which began offering seasonal concerts at the Co-Cathedral last […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brooklyn News and Events\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-11T13:17:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-13T14:40:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/\",\"name\":\"Brooklyn's Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts - Brooklyn News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-11T13:17:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-13T14:40:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/da9080898e2ce6a46f024597da8da166\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"1 \/ 4 The Fort Greene Orchestra is gaining popularity and bringing classic music to the masses at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph several times a year. Photo: Emily Davis\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/\",\"name\":\"Brooklyn News and Events\",\"description\":\"For What's Buzzin' in Brooklyn\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/da9080898e2ce6a46f024597da8da166\",\"name\":\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/author\/omgbrooklynbuzz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Brooklyn's Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts - Brooklyn News and Events","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Brooklyn's Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts","og_description":"By: Emily Davis On a recent late October night, a line wrapped around the block at the Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph, as Brooklynites gathered for a night of Mozart at the historic Brooklyn church. This was one of three sold-out performances by the Fort Greene Orchestra, which began offering seasonal concerts at the Co-Cathedral last […]","og_url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/","og_site_name":"Brooklyn News and Events","article_published_time":"2024-11-11T13:17:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-13T14:40:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/","name":"Brooklyn's Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts - Brooklyn News and Events","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-11T13:17:19+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-13T14:40:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/da9080898e2ce6a46f024597da8da166"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/11\/fg2.jpg","width":960,"height":640,"caption":"1 \/ 4 The Fort Greene Orchestra is gaining popularity and bringing classic music to the masses at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph several times a year. Photo: Emily Davis"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/brooklyns-fort-greene-orchestra-draws-crowds-with-sold-out-mozart-concerts-at-co-cathedral-of-saint-joseph\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Orchestra Draws Crowds with Sold-Out Mozart Concerts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/","name":"Brooklyn News and Events","description":"For What's Buzzin' in Brooklyn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/da9080898e2ce6a46f024597da8da166","name":"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brooklyn Buzz News Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/author\/omgbrooklynbuzz\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/brooklynbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"fg4\"](\"https:\/\/www.vmcdn.ca\/f\/files\/bkreader\/images\/news\/fg4.JPG;w=960\")
![\"fg5\"](\"https:\/\/www.vmcdn.ca\/f\/files\/bkreader\/images\/news\/fg5.JPG;w=960\")
Photo: Emily Davis<\/figure>\n