cecille elliott

Cecille is a multifaceted musician specializing in voice, violin, and viola. Throughout her music career she has taken on various avenues from orchestra halls and auditoriums to pubs and open mics. Her passion lies in the diversity of music, and how her instruments find voices around the world and in various genres.

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During her youth, she played for six years in Michigan Youth Symphony Orchestra on violin and viola , and three years as principal viola of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School’s Grammy-winning Symphony Orchestra.  She and several members of her family toured twice to Kodiak, Alaska performing repertoire that included the complete Barber and Ravel String Quartets.  They concluded their time as a performing ensemble with a presentation at Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor. She was a guest artist on viola with the Chelsea Chamber Players from 2012-2013, and played on a number of Michigan tour shows with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as pit orchestra member from 2010-2012.

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Cecille received her Bachelor of Arts in 2011 from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan where she focused on voice studies.  She was a member of several of the university’s classical and jazz choruses, including spending three years with the internationally acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble Gold Company. During her final year with the group, she won two DownBeat Student Awards as a member of both Gold Company and the Gold Company Sextet. She performed in venues across the country including Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, and at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. In 2009, Cecille performed on The Oprah Winfrey Show as a backup vocalist for Jake Zyrus and David Foster.  In 2010 she took part in a performance with Gold Company at Kalamazoo Central High School's graduation ceremony of which President Barack Obama was the guest speaker.

 

Cecille currently lives in Portland, Oregon. She is a rostered vocalist with Resonance Ensemble, participating in both live performances and digital content with the group. She spent several years teaching violin, viola, choir, orchestra, and composition/songwriting at Bravo Youth Orchestras. She lead many of the organization's creative initiatives with her primary focus being developing students' creative literacy and agency. She was a member of th Equity-Centered Pedagogy Working Group, an initiative with an aim to change the landscape of equity work in music education, originally piloted with a focus on El Sistema inspired programs in the United States and Canada.

 

As a performer and creator, she has collaborated with various artists across the country to bring their projects to life, and she can be found performing regularly around Portland. She takes her singer-songwriter sets to local venues and lends her creative voice to celebrate the work of local organizations including back to back years as a featured artist at Big Yard Foundation's annual Studio Event. Creative writing is one of the main passions of her life, and drivers of her career, having written many of her first compositions, scripts, stories, and songs as personal or school projects beginning as early as elementary school. She currently has a catalogue of over 250 songs and compositions, including close to a dozen original youth orchestra compositions for elementary learners.

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Working in multiple styles and genres is at the core of her musical interests. In the summer of 2022, Cecille took her violin to New England Conservatory in Boston, MA to take part in Silkroad Ensemble's Global Musician Workshop to expand her knowledge of music cultures across the globe, and collaborate with and learn from musicians from nearly every continent. Pop and rock styles also draw her interest, playing viola on Sleater-Kinney's "Frayed Rope Sessions" EP in 2024.

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Cecille has been commissioned by Resonance Ensemble, premiering her first contemporary choral composition, "We Are Murmurs", at the Resonance Ensemble Showcase, "Dirty Stupid Music" in January of 2023. It was featured again several times during Resonance's 2023-2024 season celebrating 15 years of commissioned works. She is currently underway creating her next piece for Resonance featuring treble voices which will premiere in February of 2025.

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This year Cecille joins Lyyra, a 6-voice women's choir from the Voces8 Foundation, as the low alto for the 2024-2025 season. Together they will be touring the United States and abroad bringing performances and workshops of many genres of choral music to people around the world.

 

She spends much of her free time buried in various forms of creative writing, and building her skills as a visual artist, with film, photography, drawing, and painting as her mediums of choice.

For a complete resume, please email: contact@cecilleelliott.com