Known for her “solidity and verve” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Molly von Gutzeit (Aronson) is a cellist, creative, and educator, with a long standing commitment to collaboration and expanding the cello repertoire. Finding common threads between creative disciplines, she works with like-minded artists from all walks of art discovering innovative takes on presenting classical music in a new light. Molly is currently the cellist and founder of Ensemble Mycelium, and has performed across the US with select highlight engagements at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, the Embassy Series (Washington, DC), Chamber Players International (New York), the United Nations, the Luzerne Festival Series, among many others.

     As a proponent of new music, Molly frequently premieres, performs, and records music by contemporary composers. She has worked directly with influential composers such as Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Moravec, Guggenheim Fellow Felipe Salles, and Shelley Washington. Molly has performed on long standing series like Bargemusic: Here and Now, New York Composers Circle, Queens New Music Festival, Fordham University at Lincoln Center Concerts, Composer’s Concordance, and the Composer’s Voice. She works with the American Composer’s Alliance to record chamber music, including the previously undiscovered Hall Overton String Trio released on Arabesque Records. Recently, Molly collaborated one-on-one with composers Nicholas Virzi as well as Spencer Snyder, respectively culminating in two new solo cello works written for and premiered by her: “Riverdaughter” and “Variations.” 

    Molly has been guest principal cello with the New York Chamber Players, New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Long Island Concert Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Garden State Philharmonic, Glens Falls Symphony, and performed with the American Contemporary Orchestra, Monteux Festival Orchestra, The New Orchestra of Washington, Savannah Philharmonic, Washington Opera Society, and New York Metamorphosis Ensemble. Solo feature performances include the Choirs of America at David Geffen Hall, with the Valley Winds, Holyoke Civic Symphony, Interlochen Choir, Opus One Chamber Orchestra, and New York Virtuosi Orchestra. 

     Not limited to the realm of classical music, Molly has performed with popular artists including the Eagles, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, and Michael Bublé at distinguished venues such as Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden. She has worked with Grammy-award winning producers and engineers to record on albums with many classical, jazz, and pop musicians, and recently has recorded for the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. In addition to her own solo and chamber recordings, she can be heard on the Naxos Label, and movie soundtracks for Warner Brothers and Sundance films.

     Using music as a vehicle for positive change, Molly devotes part of her career to giving back. She performs in nursing homes and dementia wards, engages in giving performance workshops at schools, has organized multiple fundraisers for causes related to Autism, and has toured across the country with Eric Genuis’ Concerts for Hope, performing piano trio music for prisoners in maximum security state prisons. As a music educator and advocate, she believes that opportunity begins with exposure and accessibility, and she aligns herself with organizations and patrons that support students and audiences in need. To that end, she will ensure that anyone wishing to study or advance will have the means to do so. 

     Currently, Molly maintains a large private studio of cellists in New York City, and has previously held faculty positions at the Bloomingdale School of Music, Larchmont Music Academy, Luzerne Music Center, Interlochen Arts Camp (Teaching Fellowship), has taught as an adjunct cello instructor at SUNY Purchase, and was a teaching artist with the InterSchool Orchestras. Her students have been competition winners, have been members of some of the preeminent youth orchestras and pre-college programs in New York, and have been accepted to music programs at Boston Conservatory, NYU, Aaron Copland School of Music, Berklee School of Music, and Purchase College Conservatory of Music. 

     Molly received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Master of Music from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. Her primary teachers include Astrid Schween (Juilliard String Quartet), Julia Lichten (Orpheus Chamber Orchestra), and Eugene Moye (NYC Ballet).