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Celebrating Chicago’s Musical Community at Soirée Cedille
Soirée Cedille was an evening filled with inspiration, artistry, and gratitude. Together with friends and supporters, we celebrated those who make music and those who elevate it — and we are thrilled that, thanks to your generosity, the Soirée raised a record over-$450,000 to sustain Cedille’s work on behalf of Chicago’s finest musicians.
Cedille’s artist-driven model is at the heart of everything we do. Artists propose projects featuring the music they most desire to share with the world. Cedille then offers them the artistic freedom to chart their own musical and promotional paths, while fully supporting them by covering the costs associated with recording, production, distribution, and promotion. This unique partnership empowers artists to pursue innovative passion projects resulting in albums that garner attention from listeners and industry professionals worldwide.
This year’s Soirée concert reflected that spirit of creative freedom and community support. The evening featured oboist Oliver Talukder, winner of Cedille’s second Emerging Artist Competition, and celebrated baritone Will Liverman.
Will Liverman reflected on the impact of recording with Cedille:
“I can’t think of another city that . . . provides a platform [like this] for locally based artists and gives us a voice. It’s such a meaningful thing, and I’m so grateful to be a part of the Cedille family.”
We were also honored to present the Martin D. Ginsburg Award to Helen Zell and the Musical Partnership Award to the Ravinia Festival, recognizing our awardees’ extraordinary commitment to Chicago’s music community.
We are deeply grateful for your support and partnership. Together, we are ensuring that Chicago’s vibrant musical voices continue to be heard around the world. To learn more about upcoming projects or ways to get involved, please contact Julie Polanski at 773.989.2518 or julie@cedillerecords.org.
Videos from the Soirée concert can be viewed here.
Recommended
Winner of Cedille Records’ 2025 Emerging Artist Competition, Chicago-born oboist Oliver Talukder makes his solo recording debut with Briefly Gorgeous. Joined by pianist Moriah Trenk, Talukder presents an album inspired by themes of identity, love, family, and belonging. Drawing on his Mexican and Bengali heritage and his Chicago upbringing, the program explores where classical music intersects with Latino and South Asian traditions, creating a musical portrait shaped by Talukder’s unique story.
Grammy Award-winning violinist Jennifer Koh’s 16th album on Cedille Records, The American Concerto, Volume One, features Vijay Iyer’s Trouble and the world premiere recording of Courtney Bryan‘s Syzygy, performed with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble conducted by Tim Weiss.
With the new month comes a new featured playlist on Spotify — or, in this case, a refresh of our Artist Debuts on Cedille playlist, originally created in 2022 to celebrate the inaugural album by the first Emerging Artist Competition winner, saxophonist Julian Velasco.
The update is to celebrate oboist Oliver Talukder, winner of Cedille’s second competition, as well as other artists who have made their Cedille debus since 2022. (Oliver’s track will be added on Friday when his album, Briefly Gorgeous, is released.)
Enjoy Cedille’s Weekly Featured Release.