Who I am I am Molly Monahan, a composer, orchestrator, and audio professional who works across industries in gaming, TV, film, and the concert music world.
My AAA game credits include Fortnite (composition), Return to Monkey Island (orchestration), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (music editing), The Last of Us Part II: Remastered (audio editing), and The Sims 4: Discover University (audio editing).
My Hollywood credits include working as an orchestrator for the 2023 Netflix series One Piece, as well as the 2024 film The Master and Margarita.
I've worked on several projects with Meta Inc., creating immersive sound design experience True Story for their presentation at the 2022 Cannes Lions Festival, creating the audio processing for their text-to-speech for Instagram Reels, Portal, Oculus, and RayBans devices, and creating and implementing the audio effects for Facebook SoundBites.
In the concert music world, I've received numerous accolades for my acoustic, electronic, and multi-media works. My music has been performed in Shanghai, China for the 2017 International Computer Music Conference, National Sawdust in Brooklyn during the 2016 MATA Jr. festival, Utrecht, the Netherlands for the 2016 Basklarinet Festijn, Berklee College of Music for the 2023 Splice Music Festival, and the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco for a 2019 collaboration with the ClimateMusic Project, among other places.
In 2020, I was named an honorable mention recipient of the American Prize competition in the Pops/Light Music Composition category for my string quartet, “Songs for João.” Other competition successes include the Ti;ME competition, NextNotes competition, YoungArts, the Christopher Newport University Young Composer’s competition, and the Webster University Young Composer’s competition.
I've also participated in the Hot Air Festival in San Francisco and the Sounding Now Festival in Singapore, and was a resident of the 2018 Estalagem da Ponta do Sol Residency for Contemporary Music and Electronics in Madeira, Portugal. In 2019 I also orchestrated the Ballet Trīs Draugi for the Latvian National Ballet alongside Daria Novo for composer Pavel Akimkina.
Finally, I also create dance music under the pseudonym “Papa Molly,” and have performed at places around San Francisco such as 1015 Folsom, F8, UndergroundSF, El Rio, Monarch, and the SF LGBT Center.
awards, Accolades, and Projects Here is what I've been up to recently.
Composed remix of Sade's "Smooth Operator" for Fortnite, released in December 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Sumo Salt Throw" emote, released in December 2024
Composed music for Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 1 POIs "Duel Arena" and "Turtle," as well as musical one-shots located throughout the map, released December 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Show 'Em Off" emote, released in November 2024
Composed the diegetic helicopter music for Fortnite: Remix, released in November 2024
Composed the diegetic dance music for Fortnite Reload: Desert Drop, released November 2024
Composed "Frozen Beauty" with Daria Novo for the Meta Sound Collection, released October 2024
Composed "Bad Karma" with Daria Novo for the Meta Sound Collection, released October 2024
Worked as an orchestrator for the film ICK, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2024
Composed "Hide and Seek" with Daria Novo for the Meta Sound Collection, released August 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Hellfire Dance" emote, released August 2024
Did sound design for an ad campaign for Thermos, released beginning in July 2024
Released Papa Molly track "UP 4 U" in July 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Clammy Jammer" emote, released in June 2024
Composed map/menu music for Fortnite x Avatar: The Last Airbender event, released in April 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Air Flurry" emote, released in April 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Potted Groot Dance" emote, released in March 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Fresh Out The Box" emote, released in March 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "AFK" emote, released in March 2024
Composed ambient map music for Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2, released in March 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "Swim Free" lobby track, released in March 2024
Composed music for Fortnite "PJ" skin react on elimination jingle, released in February 2024
Worked as an orchestrator for film The Master and Margarita, released in January 2024
Worked as a music editor for game The Last Of Us II: Remastered, released in January 2024
Composed music for "You Don't Know Me" lobby track for Fortnite in December 2023
Composed music for "Return of the Tiger" lobby track for Fortnite in December 2023
Composition "Bloom" performed at the Splice Festival in Boston, USA in November 2023
Composed music for "Flashback Breakdown" emote for Fortnite in November 2023
Worked as a music editor with Sony Interactive Studios for video game Marvel's Spider-Man 2, released in October 2023
Composed music for "Sweet!" emote for Fortnite in October 2023
Composed "Woodlands Dance" in collaboration with Daria Novo for the Meta Music Initiative in October 2023
Composed lobby track "Dangerous by Design" in collaboration with the K.O.G for Fortnite in September 2023
Worked as an orchestrator for the score of 2023 Netflix series One Piece, premiering in August 2023
Composed remix of Miraaj track "Ritual" in July 2023
Created music for Fortnite's "Sunny Stroll" and "Stormy Slog" emotes in July 2023
Created music in collaboration with Daria Novoliantceva for Diner Dash Adventures' July 2023 update "Bricks and Bites"
DJed at F8 for Summer of Acid in July 2023
DJed at Monarch for SWITCHSF in June 2023
Created sound design for Fortnite's "That Ice" pickaxe in collaboration with Nike in June 2023
Created music for Fortnite's "Swagger Strut" emote in June 2023
DJed at Club Waziema for SWITCHSF in June 2023
DJed at 1015 Folsom in June 2023
DJed for Fake and Gay at F8 in April 2023
Composed music for video game Fortnite starting from March 2023
DJed at Supervixen at UndergroundSF in March 2023
DJed at SWITCHSF at El Rio in February 2023
Edited podcast "The Offstage Mic," created by Aubrey Bergauer, starting from January 2023
Created immersive mix of "Gravity," composed by Daria Novoliantceva, in January 2023
DJed at SWITCHSF at El Rio in December 2022
DJed at Supervixen at Monarch in December 2022
Mixed soundtrack for the December update of Electronic Arts' mobile game "Diner Dash Adventures," composed by Daria Novoliantceva, in November 2022
DJed at The Foundry in San Francisco in October 2022
Orchestrated songs "I Wonder" and "I Want to be a Tree" by Nick Platoff, which premiered in October 2022
Composed electroacoustic piece "Bloom," which was premiered in Waco, Texas by the Waveform Collective in October 2022
DJed at SWITCHSF Amado's in October 2022
Orchestrated video game score for Return to Monkey Island, released in September 2022
DJed at SWITCHSF at El Rio in August 2022
DJed at NnewNostalgia in August 2022
Created a spatial audio sound experience for Meta at Cannes in June 2022
DJed at Rhythm Clinic in Oakland in June 2022
Performed for the San Francisco LGBT Center's "Queer Vibes" music series in June 2022
DJed and performed live visuals at SWITCHSF at Amado's in San Francisco in June 2022
Premiered surround audio and video fixed media piece "ICU" at the Recombinant Media Lab's Cinechamber at Gray Area in San Francisco in May 2022
Featured as the ClimateMusic Project's Artist Spotlight in April 2022
Performed at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco in March 2022
DJed at Monarch in San Francisco in March 2022
DJed and performed live visuals at SWITCHSF at Local Maker Mart in San Francisco in March 2022
Released single "Lifetime" in February 2022
Was a finalist in the American Prize in the Composition - Pops/Light Music category in 2021
Performed at Wax Social at the Make Out Room in San Francisco in December 2021
Scored American Ninja Warrior audition video for Olyvia Chinchilla in December 2021
Created the text-to-speech voices for Instagram reels in August 2021
Performed in BFF.fm's "Besties Bash" in June 2021
Released Papa Molly EP "All Over" in March 2021
Released music video to "High-Heeled Walk" in February 2021
Released Papa Molly single "High-Heeled Walk" in February 2021
Scored short film "Troop 182," directed by Reagan Shea, in December 2020
Released infinite original music generation app "Infinite Mix" in December 2020
Graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in May 2020, receiving the Dean's Award for Academic Achievement
Launched music remix game "Top Mix" in April 2020, which has since gone on to be the App Store's Game of the Day and on the New Games We Love list
Released the music video for "Homophobic Coronavirus" in March 2020
DJed and performed visuals for a coronavirus-induced "CyberRave" in March 2020
Performed ambient accordion looping music with projections at a rooftop show in the SOMA district of San Francisco in early March 2020
Orchestrated the ballet "The Three Comrades," composed by Pavel Akimkina, which was premiered by the National Latvian Ballet in late November 2019
Projected live visuals at San Francisco music and art show "Mafficking" in November 2019
Performed keyboard with artist Luke Collins at the Milk Bar in November 2019
Worked on the audio team for the Sims 4 "Discover University" Expansion pack, released in November 2019 (voice recording/editing, mixing of promos)
Created climate data musical sonifications for the band COPUS on their song "What if We...?,"
performed in Washington DC in collaboration with the ClimateMusic Project
Performed original composition "Breaking" at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in partnership with the ClimateMusic Project in September 2019
Recorded and broadcasted several performances of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra live on the Interlochen Public Radio in June and July 2019
Performed original composition "Breaking" at the Exploratorium in San Francisco in partnership with the ClimateMusic Project in May 2019
Created interactive visual piece "Float" performed by guzheng player and inventor of the QJin Qianqian Jin, performed in May 2019
Performed keyboard with artist Luke Collins at the Hotel Utah Saloon in May 2019
Performed original composition "Frances" at the Future is Female Concert in San Francisco in April 2019
Scored San Francisco Art Institute student film "Macbeth" in Spring 2019
Performed keyboard with Glaçon Garçon on their Spring 2019 West Cost Tour
Sound installation "Bodypad" installed in the 2019 Hot Air Music Festival
Performed live projections for an ambient music show in San Francisco's SoMa district in February 2019
Performed live rap "A Tale of Two Shoelaces" on a concert headlining John Vanderslice in January 2019
Released country song generator "Countrytron5000" on iOS in December 2018
Performed live projections for the Voices of Silicon Valley's rendition of Stockhausen's "Stimmung" in November 2018
Released mobile VR game "Finding the Malicious Snowman" on iOS and Android in Summer 2018
Presented at the 2018 Sounding Now New Music Festival in Singapore
Selected as a Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Scholar for the 2018 Game Design Conference
Composition "Toccata" performed in a 2018 electronic music concert with producers MATMOS in San Francisco, California (concert also produced by me)
Created and ran projections for the audiovisual improvisation concert during the 2018 Estalagem da Ponta do Sol Residency for Contemporary Music and Electronics in Madeira, Portugal
Produced music for San Francisco-based fashion designer JAKE's 2017 "Hero" campaign
Composition "A Volcano in Michigan" performed at the 2017 International Computer Music Conference in Shanghai, China
Honorable Mention recipient of the 2017 TI;ME Competition
Winner of the 2016 NextNotes Competition, with composition "Ameriquartet: III. Susanna!" performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Winner of the 2016 MATA Jr. Competition, with composition "Green Line Reverie" performed at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, New York
Honorable Mention recipient of YoungArts 2016-2017
Composition "Fruity Juice" performed at the 2016 Basklarinet Festijn in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Second place of the 2016 Christopher Newport University's Young Composer Competition
Composition "Ameriquartet: III. Susanna!" performed at the opening festival of the 2016 Michigan Youth Arts Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Recipient of the 2015 Neil Rabaut Composition Award
Second place of the 2015 Webster University's Young Composer Competition, with composition "Meadow Winds Suite" performed in Saint Louis, Missouri
