Porfirii Ustynovych Molchanov (12 (24) February 1863, Kharkiv - 13 April 1945, Odesa) was a Ukrainian composer and teacher.
In 1887, he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory (composition classes of N. Rimsky-Korsakov and A. Liadov).
From 1888 he taught music-theoretical disciplines in music classes (later a music school) in Odesa.
At the end of 1892, he sent his orchestral work to Pyotr Tchaikovsky; on February 4, 1893, Tchaikovsky performed it at a concert of the Russian Musical Society in Odesa.
Since 1926, he was a professor at the Odesa Music and Drama Institute (since 1934, the Conservatory). For many years, his musical activity was the basis of the Odesa musical theoretical school. He taught composition, counterpoint, and fugue-polyphony, basing his course of study on programs close to conservatory ones. Later he was the head of the Department of Music Theory and Composition at the Odesa Conservatory until 1944.
His works include: 2 symphonies, a scherzo for symphony orchestra, a cantata, and a string sextet. In 1891, he edited the orchestra of the opera Catherine by Mykola Arkas.
