Party: Cecilia Brandolini

Party: Cecilia Brandolini

There are many paths you can follow that lead to a life of music. For many, inspiration strikes in adolescence; for others, it is only once they step out into the adult world that their talent rises to the surface. And then there are those who find their calling in Year 4, busking with a ukulele outside their mum’s meringue shop in Byron Bay.

Cecilia Brandolini is one of those refreshingly brave performers who are not only adept across multiple instruments – piano, violin, and of course ukulele – but has also honed that rarest talent of all; a style and voice of her very own. At only 19-years old, she has already performed across more projects than the majority of her peers. From her days attending a Byron Bay Steiner school – which she credits as being hugely influential in encouraging her artistic aspirations – Cecilia began performing with her siblings at a very early age. With both of her parents music teachers who also just so happen to be songwriters, it’s perhaps inevitable that the Brandolinis would be a musical tribe.

“Having a supportive and musical family, and having a Steiner Education from Year 1 to 12 really did shape my personality, and thought process,” Cecilia says. “The different ways of teaching, and understanding so many different things without forming opinions too quickly, it helps me continuously in having a higher standard in everything that I do, especially in my music. Byron Bay and its accepting nature exposed me to so many quirky people, strange music, and has given me such interesting influences.”

With her elder brother Gabriel, they formed the aptly-named duo, Gabriel & Cecilia, finding national attention after being selected by will.i.am on The Voice Australia. Not content to stop there, with two younger siblings she began performing as part of Three Little Sisters, and soon Cecilia had begun travelling the country, developing her craft from Melbourne to Arnhem Land, Toowoomba to Perth, and countless places in between.

In 2014 she won the NCEIA Dolphin Award for Best Female Vocalist, supported Taylor Henderson, shared the stage with INXS frontman Ciaran Gribbin and began solidifying her presence on Australia’s festival stages. More recently, after relocating from the beaches of Byron to the harbour lights of Sydney, she began performing as one half of Cecy and Henry, quickly establishing herself as an unmissable voice in the Sydney alt-folk scene. Having recently returned from her debut performances in Europe – notably La Pétaudière in Montmarte, France and the Camphill Ballytobin in Kilkenny, Ireland – Cecilia has begun focusing on her own latest EP, to be released later in the year.

With her breathtaking voice reminiscent of Kate Miller-Heidke, piano talents that bring to mind Regina Spektor, and a songwriting touch that harks to none other than the great Joni Mitchell, Cecilia Brandolini is a talent impossible to ignore. Having already achieved so much in so short a time, it won’t be long before she inspires other people the same way these idols inspire her.

Awards

2017 – Winner of Tweed Heads Battle of the Bands
2017 – Finalist in Buskers By The Creek
2014 – Best Female Vocalist – NCEIA Dolphin Awards