About

Mollie Budiansky is a composer, educator, clarinet/saxophone player, and thing-maker.

Drawn to wind ensembles for their power of both community and sound, Mollie has been commissioned by elementary through college-level bands throughout the United States. She also creates music for small ensembles and standalone electronic sound collage. Favorite themes include celebration and escapism, often through the lenses of nature, fantasy, or aviation. Mollie self-publishes the majority of her music under the moniker Aerialmusic and has several other band works available from C.L. Barnhouse and Murphy Music Press.

Mollie approaches teaching and talking about composition as a means of fun, musical experimentation accessible at any skill or knowledge level. She has instructed clarinet and composition at Cazadero Music Camp and served as an arranger for Berkeley Symphony’s Music in the Schools program, in which elementary school music students perform alongside members of the professional orchestra. Arrangement highlights include mashups such as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mollie began her studies at Oberlin College and completed her Bachelor of Music in Composition at the New England Conservatory as a student of Michael Gandolfi. She now resides in Massachusetts.

In addition to making music, Mollie divides her time between several other creative pursuits including drawing comics about music and exploring fiber art.