Osiris J. Molina

Professor of Clarinet
Woodwind Area Coordinator

  • email: ojmolina@ua.edu
  • phone (205) 348-7451
  • office location Moody Music Building 112

Education

  • DMA, Michigan State University
  • MM, Yale School of Music
  • BM, Rutgers University

Bio

“Berio’s 13 Sequenzas, written over a period of four decades, are big solo works for different instruments. They famously make extraordinary demands on the performer, so much so that anyone mastering a Sequenza stands out as an undeniable master of his instrument. Molina is such a master, and his triumphant performance brought the entire house to its feet.” -Richard Rand, Tuscaloosa News

“Black Dog is a tour de force of virtuosic display and a showpiece for soloist and wind ensemble.  Osiris Molina impressively slides, bends, and growls his way through this rhapsodic piece with a controlled reckless abandon necessary for its success.  Inspired by the likes of Led Zeppelin’s song “Black Dog,” Scott McAllister has crafted a piece which is bound to excite an audience and performers.  It is played here to the hilt by Molina, and the ensemble is right with him –– a performance holding its own with any versions out there.  It’s head-banging fun. Bravo!” William Nichols, The Clarinet

Dr. Osiris J. Molina is Professor of Clarinet and Woodwind Area Coordinator at the University of Alabama. A native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, he has extensive experience as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. Dr. Molina is currently Principal Clarinet of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Principal Clarinet with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Alabama, Mobile, Mississippi, Meridian, and Chattanooga symphony clarinet sections, in addition to work with the Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Greater Lansing, and West Michigan symphony orchestras.

Dr. Molina’s chamber work includes his membership in the Vuorovesi Trio, a UA faculty trio consisting of the flute, oboe, and clarinet. Vuorovesi has performed at many ICA and IDRS conferences and have been invited to perform at the 2024 IDRS conference in Flagstaff, AZ and the 2024 ICA ClarinetFest in Dublin, Ireland. In 2024 the trio will release their first album. In addition to Vuorovesi, he is also a member of the Cavell Trio, a reed trio dedicated to established and emerging works for this unique combination. Dr. Molina is also a member of the Capstone Wind Quintet, the faculty quintet at the University of Alabama. In addition to his Alabama teaching duties, Dr. Molina will enter his eleventh season as Clarinet Mentor at the Hot Springs Music Festival, Hot Springs, Arkansas in 2024.

As a solo instrumentalist, Dr. Molina celebrated the 2022 release of Cuba, Alabama, an album consisting of music for clarinet by Cuban composers Andres Alén, Javier Zalba, Paquito D’Rivera, Ernesto Lecuona, and Leo Brouwer on Blue Griffin Records, and in February 2023, Dr. Molina was featured soloist on John Mackey’s new Clarinet Concerto Divine Mischief with the University of Alabama Wind Ensemble at the College Band Directors National Association National Conference at the University of Georgia. He is currently in the final stages of recording an album of works for clarinet and string quartet by Alabama composers due out in late 2024.

Dr. Molina holds degrees from Michigan State University (DMA), Yale School of Music (MM), and Rutgers University (BM), where he studied with Dr. Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, David Shifrin, Charles Neidich, Ayako Oshima and Dr. William Berz. Osiris has been active in music education at all levels. He teaches applied clarinet, chamber music and clarinet methods in the Music Education curriculum. Dr. Molina is an endorsing artist for Selmer Paris, Silverstein, Gonzalez, and D’Addario and performs on the Recital clarinet and the Privilege Bass Clarinet.