Cedille Launches Second Emerging Artist Competition

Cedille Records has been building the careers and legacies of Chicago’s finest classical music performers and composers since the label’s founding in 1989. We are now looking toward the next generation of artists through the second Emerging Artist Competition. Applications for the Competition, sponsored by the Zell Family Foundation, are now open.

The winner will record their featured debut album on Cedille Records. As with all Cedille recording projects, all recording, production, and promotion expenses will be covered by the organization. The first competition’s winner, saxophonist Julian Velasco, released his debut album, As We Are, on Cedille in August 2022 to critical acclaim. Julian joined an impressive roster of artists who made their featured recording debuts on Cedille, including Eighth Blackbird, the Dover and Pacifica Quartets, Third Coast Percussion, and Anthony McGill, among many others. Of the opportunity to release a fully funded album on Cedille, Velasco said: “It’s an investment in the future of [my] career, but also, the future of [my] artistic presence . . . I couldn’t be more grateful.”

The competition is open to emerging individual musicians (instrumental and vocal) and ensembles of up to six people that reside in or are originally from the Chicago metro area. The semifinals and finals will take place as live rounds May 17–18, 2025 in Chicago.

Semifinal and final performances will be judged by a panel of seven prominent musicians and industry professionals. The final round will be streamed and open in-person to the public.

Help Cedille reach more local emerging artists by encouraging those that you know to apply. The impact that a fully funded, highquality, thoughtfully curated, well promoted, and widely distributed recording can have on the trajectory of an artist’s career is vast.

For more information about eligibility and to access the application, go to the Emerging Artist Competition webpage. For questions relating to the competition, please email competition@cedillerecords.org or call (773) 989-2515.