Molly Kien

Biography

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:52:47 +0000

Molly Kien is an American composer currently based in Stockholm, Sweden. She completed her Master’s degree in composition in 2009 at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and holds a Bachelor’s degree in composition from Indiana University in Bloomington. She first came to Sweden in 2002 to study at the Gotland School of Music Composition following studies with Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Her works have been performed by ensembles such as the Swedish Radio Choir, KammarensembleN, members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, The Swedish Wind Ensemble, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Musica Vitae, Nordic Fusion 6, Pärlor för svin and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm’s Symphony Orchestra.

Molly Kien is a member of the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM) and the Society of Swedish Composers (FST). She has received scholarships from STIM, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and SWEA.

Contact: mhkien@hotmail.com

Current Projects

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:50:41 +0000

Norrbotten NEO

“No Chaos,” commissioned by Norrbotten NEO, will be premiered at the New Sweden festival in Piteå, Sweden, in April, 2012.

flute and harp cadenzas

Molly Kien has written new cadenzas for Mozart’s Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra, which will be premiered during a performance of the concerto on Thursday, March 8, 2012, with Susanne Hörberg (flute)
Laura Stephenson (harp) and Västerås Sinfonietta.

concert in Grünewaldsalen

Three new chamber works, “Dances for Ariadne,” “The Binding of Odysseus” and “Hymn for Apollo” were performed by members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, along with three new works by composer Andrea Tarrodi, as part of the orchestra’s chamber music series. All six works on the concert were inspired by the murals Isaac Grünewald painted on the walls of the Stockholm Concert Hall’s chamber music hall, Grünewaldsalen, where the concert was held. The concert was aired on Swedish radio and featured in a segment on Swedish television’s Cultural News program.

New North American Folk Songs

“New North American Folk Songs” for oboe and piano was premiered in Portland, Oregon, on April 13th, 2011, at the Old Church by Catherine Lee (oboe) and Lisa Marsh (piano).

trio for mandolin, harp and guitar

Molly Kien’s trio “At a Certain Hour” for mandolin, harp and guitar was premiered at a lunch concert at the Stockholm Concert Hall on November 12th, 2010, by Valur Pálsson (mandolin), Laura Stephenson (harp) and Mats Bergström (guitar).

skippa helskägg!

134340 Pluto for wind symphony was performed by the Swedish Wind Ensemble under the direction of Christian Lindberg at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm on September 4th, 2010. The concert opened the Wind Ensemble’s 2010-2011 season, which features an equal distribution of works by both female and male composers. Molly Kien also appeared in a film made by the Swedish Wind Ensemble, where she interviewed composers Joan Tower and Thea Musgrave.

nova project

Together with composer colleague Andrea Tarrodi, Molly Kien is working as a composer with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra’s Nova Project. The project is a collaboration between composers, the orchestra, and children in schools in and around Örebro, Sweden. Over the course of the 2009-2010 school year, Kien has been helping four school classes write four orchestra pieces, each of which will be performed on a different concert during the Swedish Chamber Orchestra’s regular concert season.

composer of the year

Kien was chosen as the composer of the year by Bergslagen’s Chamber Orchestra. The commissioned piece, 134340 Pluto for wind orchestra, was premiered at the orchestra’s annual summer course in Grängesberg, Dalarna, under the direction of Leif Karlsson.

plucked from nowhere

Molly Kien’s piece for harp and chamber orchestra, Song of Britomartis, originally written for Laura Stephenson and KammarensembleN, won first prize in the Alvarez Chamber Orchestra’s competition “Plucked from Nowhere” and will be performed next year by the orchestra in London.