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Cecile Ann Stevens Molloy LRAM (1896 – 9 October 1970) was an Australian violinist.

Cecile Stevens LRAM
Cecile Stevens, from a 1922 publication
Born	Cecile Ann Stevens 1896 Sydney
Died	9 October 1970
Other names	Cecile Molloy (married name)
Occupation	Violinist

Early life

Stevens was from Sydney, daughter of composer and organist John Michael Stevens and Kathleen Mary Noonan Stevens.[1][2][3] As a child musician,[4] she was conductor of the Parramatta Convention Orchestra in Sydney. She won a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London.[5]

Career

Stevens played a Nicola Amati violin, a gift from her father.[6][7] She played for Princess Mary and entertained wounded troops while performing in Great Britain during World War I, sometimes sharing the bill with Lena Ashwell.[8] She made a two-year tour of English vaudeville theatres.[5]

She toured in Canada and the United States after the war,[8][9] and toured in Australia and New Zealand in 1921.[10][11] "Miss Cecile Stevens is a talented young violinist with a distinguished grace and charm characteristic of her wonderful ability," noted a New Zealand newspaper.[12] She gave radio concerts and made recordings, including a film, in the United States in 1922.[13][14] She returned to London in the early 1920s,[15] and played in London theatres.[16] After she married in 1929, she moved to East Africa.[17][18][19]

Personal life

Stevens married Michael Aloysius Molloy in 1929, in London.[15] She lived with her husband, an Irish veterinary officer,[20] in Tanganyika Territory,[21][22] at least until he retired in 1950.[23]

Stevens died in Sydney on 9 October 1970 and was survived by her husband.[24]

References

External links

• "Salut d'amour : key of D major" (De Luxe Reproducing Roll Corporation 1922). An audio recording made by Jean Fabre and Cecile Stevens

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