Gaetano Molla (1845–1894) was an Italian and Russian choirmaster, teacher, and conductor. He studied in Milan and served as choirmaster at La Scala.
In 1870, he came to Taganrog as choirmaster with an Italian opera company. He married local chorister E. M. Kupriyanova, née Drashkovich, in the Greek Church on October 27, 1871, and stayed in the city. He conducted orchestras, choirs, and opera, and was one of the initiators of a musical and dramatic society. The article credits him with playing a major role in the development of Taganrog’s musical culture.
Molla died in a railway carriage while returning from Kharkiv, where he had been refused an operation for throat cancer. His pupils included pianist and composer Samuil Maykapar, and his son Valerian Molla was also a conductor, composer, and teacher. In 2012, a memorial plaque to Gaetano and Valerian Molla was unveiled on the building of the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Children’s Music School in Taganrog.