Molly Pease

Molly Pease is an eclectic LA-based singer, composer and teacher with experience in a wide range of musical styles. She leads the experimental art rock band ACKLAND and sings in many small ensembles, bands and vocal groups whose musical styles range from modern and traditional jazz to 21st-century classical, avant-garde and West African. Many of these ensembles were formed at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where Molly is currently pursuing her MFA in Jazz Studies.

An accomplished solo vocalist, Molly has recently performed at Los Angeles venues including Troubadour, The Wulf and The Battery Books & Music, in Sacramento at Gold Lion Arts, The Naked Lounge and Shine Café, and in New York at The Highline Hotel. Molly was the featured soloist with the Sacramento Youth Symphony in 2009 and with the Sacramento Choral Society in 2003.

Molly is a skilled studio singer. She is featured on three tracks from the 2016 CalArts Jazz CD recorded at Capitol Records with Grammy Award-winning audio engineer Charlie Paakkari. Molly is now recording and self-producing ACKLAND’s debut album at CalArts with another Grammy-winning engineer, John Baffa. Between 2009 and 2011, Molly recorded three albums with the American River College Vocal Jazz Ensemble at Paradise Studios in Sacramento, two of which won Downbeat Awards. She also recorded with the Sacramento State Jazz Singers led by arranger Kerry Marsh.

Also an experienced teacher, Molly has taught private voice lessons in Los Angeles, New York and Sacramento since 2008. Each summer, she coaches young vocalists at Sacramento Teagarden Jazz Camp along with some of the finest traditional jazz players in the country. She also worked as assistant choral conductor for the Sacramento Children’s Chorus from 2006 to 2008.

Molly has also led vocal jazz ensembles. She spent three years as a member of the DownBeat Award-winning American River College Vocal Jazz Ensemble. She's featured on three albums with the group, two of which won DownBeat awards. As lead soprano, Molly performed at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Convention in Tucson and at the national convention in Chicago, won third place at the Next Generation Jazz Festival in Monterey, and was featured at the 2011 Jazz Education Network Conference in New Orleans. Molly also sang lead soprano for the Sacramento State Jazz Singers, with whom she performed as guest artist for the Next Generation Jazz Festival in Monterey.

Molly’s international choral experience, starting at a young age, included singing numerous languages and styles. She sang with the Sacramento Children's Chorus under the direction of Lynn Stevens for 12 years, including in Canada at the International Choral Kathaumixw Competition, in Los Angeles at the American Choral Directors Association National Convention, in Czech Republic and Sweden and Norway. She sang with Sacramento’s female vocal ensemble Vox Musica in 2011 and currently sings with C3LA: Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles, a new group performing works written exclusively within the last 25 years.

Throughout Molly’s career as a singer, she has studied with many skilled and profound teachers. Most recently at CalArts, Molly studies with pianist and composer David Roitstein, composer and multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia and soprano Maria Dean. At The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, Molly studied with touring classical and jazz singer-songwriter Alicia Olatuja, trombonist and vocalist Richard Harper, jazz singer Elisabeth Lohninger and pianist-arranger Kirk Nurock. In Sacramento, Molly studied classical and jazz voice with Downbeat Award-winning Dr. Art LaPierre, traditional and jazz theory and improvisation with Brubeck Institute’s Dr. Joe Gilman and with acclaimed jazz vocalist and clinician, Julia Dollison.