Meet the 2025 Emerging Artist Competition Semifinalists

The competition, to take place May 17 & 18 at the Spertus Institute, is designed to elevate and celebrate early-career Chicago artists

Cedille Records President and Founder James Ginsburg proudly announces seven semi-finalists in our second Emerging Artist Competition, sponsored by the Zell Family Foundation. This year’s semi-finalists are violinists Esme Arias-Kim and Rabia Brooke; oboist Oliver Talukder; and pianists Boris Krivoshein, Tamila Salimdjanova, Wenting Shi, and Seho Young. A diverse class of incredibly accomplished, early-career musicians with deep ties to Chicago, this group of semi-finalists represent an array of backgrounds and perspectives on classical music with artists hailing originally from China, Uzbekistan, Russia, Boston and, of course, Chicagoland.  These artists will compete in the live semi-final and final rounds of the competition at the Spertus Institute’s Feinberg Theater, 610 S Michigan, May 17–18. The winner will receive a Cedille recording contract for their debut solo album — a prize valued at $70,000.

The Competition  

Designed to augment Cedille’s nonprofit mission of supporting Chicago’s finest classical music artists, the Emerging Artist Competition is open to musicians under the age of 35 who reside in, or are originally from, the Chicago metro area and who have not yet appeared as the featured performer on a commercially released CD. In this year’s competition, 23 first round applications were pared down to seven semi-finalists by a panel of Cedille board members. During the live semi-final round held on May 17, a panel of seven distinguished judges from Chicago’s classical music scene will select up to four finalists who will each perform during the final round of competition held on May 18. The final round will be live-streamed and open to the public. The winner will be announced at the finals.

The final round will be live-streamed and open to the public. More information about tickets for the competition will be released soon.  

The winner will record with Cedille Records, joining an impressive roster of artists that includes Jennifer Koh, Rachel Barton Pine, Eighth Blackbird, the Dover Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, and Anthony McGill. 

The semi-finalists  

Judges 

The Cedille Legacy 

James Ginsburg founded Cedille Records in 1989 with the vision of making distinctive classical recordings featuring excellent Chicago-area musicians. Cedille filled an important niche as the only Chicago-based classical record label, and to this day continues to fulfill its mission of recording original programs developed by artists with enlightening and distinctive interpretations. Cedille’s artists and albums are regularly honored with the highest accolades, including seven GRAMMY® awards and 21 nominations since 2003. 

Cedille Records 

Launched in November 1989, Grammy Award-winning Cedille Records (pronounced say-DEE) is dedicated to showcasing and promoting the most noteworthy classical artists in and from the Chicago area. 

The audiophile-oriented label releases every new album in multiple formats: physical CD; 96 kHz, 24-bit, studio-quality FLAC download; and 320 Kbps MP3 download.  

An independent nonprofit enterprise, Cedille Records is the label of Cedille Chicago, NFP. Sales of physical CDs and digital downloads and streams cover only a small percentage of the label’s costs. Tax-deductible donations from individual music-lovers and grants from charitable organizations account for most of its revenue.