Showcasing diverse performers & composers

A recording is a unique promotional tool for artists — both performers and composers. Composer Stacy Garrop has reflected: “Without Cedille’s recordings of my music, my career would not be where it is today. [They have] brought my music to national and international attention.”

In both performance and recording, the music of women, composers of color, and living composers is significantly underrepresented. According to a Donne Foundation study of composers included in the top 100 orchestras’ 2020 – 2021 season, only 5% of the pieces performed were by women, only 1.11% by Black or Asian women, and only 2.43% by Black or Asian men. According to studies by the Baltimore Symphony, just 12% of works programmed by orchestras between 2014 and 2016 were by living composers.

By encouraging artists to propose projects about which they are most passionate, Cedille creates the space for them to bring forth unique repertoire and collaborations. The result is a catalog that strives to be as diverse as Chicago and addresses critical disparities in classical music.

Over the last 15 years, 38% of Cedille albums have featured works by women composers, and 54% have featured living composers. Over the past five years, 34% of Cedille albums have featured pieces by Black composers. We’re proud that our recordings have allowed our patrons to discover favorite new artists of all stripes.

Chicago-native clarinetist Anthony McGill, a Cedille artist and Board member and the New York Philharmonic’s first African-American principal player says, “[When you make a recording] the access that listeners all around the world get to your music and your musicianship outside of the city that you live in is priceless.”

We believe that a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment is critical to Cedille’s mission and necessary to ensure continued artistic vibrancy.