The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra is the resident orchestra of New York City’s beloved summer music festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, inaugurated in 1966
The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at David Geffen Hall
Who We Are
We are a 42 piece ensemble made up of world class musicians with versatile backgrounds.
For five weeks in July and August, our talented and passionate group of international musicians comes together at Lincoln Center to spread the joy of music through Mozart and beyond.
Community
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra members with supporter Mark Levine, Borough President of Manhattan
Concertmaster Ruggero Allifranchini, Principal Cello Ilya Finkelshteyn and Principal Viola Shmuel Katz volunteering their time to play pre-concert performances for our Damrosch Park audiences
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra members with supporter Mark Levine, Borough President of Manhattan
With our season canceled during 2020, our members brought music outdoors to perform for first responders at various hospitals throughout the city, expressing our gratitude for everything they have been doing to keep us all safe. We also participated in the Food Bank NY events on the Lincoln Center Campus, where fresh food was distributed to anyone in need.
In 2021, our season was limited to only one week outdoors, but we came together as an orchestra to run an educational outreach program, and to perform several exciting chamber performances which culminated in two Damrosch Park concerts with the full orchestra. The second Damrosch Park performance was added due to popular demand.
Education
Damrosch Park side-by-side concert with our Advanced student artists
Beginner student artists from our Mostly Mozart in Harmony program 2022
our youngest student artists practicing techniques on improving their bow hold
Damrosch Park side-by-side concert with our Advanced student artists
While reinventing the way ensembles engage with the community, our orchestra members have also been showing their deep commitment to sharing their musical knowledge with young musicians through initiatives that bring students from local music schools into our professional world. We offer free coachings and masterclasses and give students an opportunity to experience real-world classical music scenarios.
We are continuing with our goals to develop a pipeline to help facilitate a career in the performing arts for young artists from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the orchestral field. We currently collaborate with such programs as the Harlem School of the Arts, Opus 118 Harlem School of Music, the Harmony Program, the Chamber Music Center of NY, BridgeMusik, Juilliard MAP, Opportunity Music Project, and several El Sistema based programs such as the Corona Youth Music Project, Orchestrating Dreams, UpBeat NYC, the East River Music Project and the Union City Music Project.
This summer, members of our orchestra once again organized our educational outreach program, renamed "Mostly Mozart in Harmony" (MMIH) where we welcomed students for a free week of coachings and performances across the Lincoln Center campus.
Off Season
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
When not playing at Mostly Mozart, our members are performing year round as soloists, chamber musicians, on Broadway and in major orchestras such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Lukes, the National Symphony Orchestra and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, to name just a few.