Saxophonist Julian Velasco wins Cedille’s Emerging Artist Competition

Saxophonist Julian Velasco wins Cedille’s 

Emerging Artist Competition 

 

The competition took place November 20 & 21, 2021, at the Spertus Institute and celebrates over 30 years of Cedille Records identifying, elevating, and amplifying the careers of Chicago musical artists 

 

November 30, 2021, Chicago, IL: Cedille Records announced Saxophonist Julian Velasco as the winner of Cedille's Emerging Artist Competition! As the victor, Julian will record and release his debut album on the Cedille label. Recording and promoting the work of Chicago's finest musicians is the label’s passion, mission, and privilege. 

 

“Joining the Cedille family is both exhilarating and humbling,” said Julian Velasco. “When I first decided to move to Chicago, I remember looking through Cedille’s artist roster and listening to their artists to draw inspiration. Artists such as Anthony McGill, Jennifer Koh, Rachel Barton Pine, and Third Coast Percussion were some of the people that I looked up to as I began crafting my artistic vision here. It is an incredible honor and still feels surreal that I am being welcomed into this group of artists. I am excited for the opportunity to share my music alongside these people on the label.”

 

Velasco is a Chicago-based saxophonist whose artistic vision aspires to reflect and celebrate the plurality of our society. Raised in the diverse musical culture of Los Angeles, his own musical background draws from classical, jazz, experimental, and popular styles whose influences inform his approach to all music. Velasco is the soprano saxophonist of ~Nois saxophone quartet and a founding member of indie-pop trio Dial-Up Stepmom. Julian’s passion for collaborating with living composers has led him to premiere more than 30 works from composers including Billy Childs, David Biedenbender, Oznat Netzer, Zhou Tian, and Annika Socolofsky. 

 

For the final round, Julian performed a new arrangement of Amanda Harberg’s Court Dances. 

 

“I first met Amanda in Indianapolis for a performance at the Music for All Festival a few years ago, and we had the opportunity to get to know one another over that weekend,” said Velasco. “She is an incredible person and writes amazing music, and at the time had no works for saxophone. When I first found out I would be competing for Cedille Records’ Emerging Artist Competition, I thought to myself this would be a great opportunity to collaborate with her. In December of 2019, I reached out and we began discussing working together to create an arrangement of one of my favorite works by her, Court Dances, for soprano saxophone instead of flute. When the pandemic hit only a few months later, I suddenly found myself with all my projects being stalled or cancelled for the foreseeable future. However, Amanda and I found ways to press onward. We used emails, phone calls, and home recordings to still work towards this arrangement which we were able to complete and share the premiere of the arrangement for this. For me, it represented the generosity and kindness that Amanda gave to me as well as the endurance of this relationship during such a dark time.”

 

Learn more about Julian from an interview with Cedille here.

 

The Competition

Applications were screened by a panel of Cedille Records board members. Live, open to the public semifinal and final rounds took place over concurrent days in Chicago November 20 and 21, 2021. Six semifinalists prepared an hour of music from which judges selected 20 minutes to be performed. The final round included three contestants playing 30 minutes of music total, selected by the contestants themselves. 

           

Semi-finalists:

Maya Anjali Buchanan, violin (19)

Karisa Chiu, violin (20)

Johannes Gray, cello (22)

Clare Longendyke, piano (32)

Andrew Rosenblum, harpsichord (33)

Julian Velasco, saxophone (24)

 

Finalists:

Karisa Chiu, violin

Clare Longendyke, piano

Julian Velasco, saxophone

 

Winner:

Julian Velasco, saxophone

Judges:

Rachel Barton Pine (violinist, Cedille recording artist, and Cedille board member)

Henry Fogel (Cedille founding board member and former board chair; former President, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

James Ginsburg (Cedille Records founder and President)

Vladimir Kulenovic (Conductor and former Artistic Director, Lake Forest Symphony)

Josephine Lee (Artistic Director, Chicago Children’s Choir)

David McGill (Former Principal Bassoon, Chicago Symphony Orchestra) 

George Preston (Vice President and General Manager, WFMT and former vocalist)

 

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 26 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.

 

Cedille thanks the Zell Family Foundation for its generous sponsorship of the Competition.  

 

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