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Our friends at Cedille Records, the Grammy Award-winning, Chicago-based classical record label, are about to embark on their 20th year.   Launched two decades ago in a student apartment on Chicago’s South Side by James Ginsburg, then 24, son of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is a pretty prominent lawyer in Washington, DC,  Cedille (that’s say-DEE to you) made its debut in November 1989 with its first CD release, a program of solo piano pieces performed by Chicago-based Soviet emigre pianist Dmitry Paperno.

Since then, Cedille’s catalog, which features world-class musicians in and from the Chicago area, has grown and diversified, while attracting critical accolades, an international clientele, and praise from its artists.  Cedille has 115 principal CD titles ranging from solo keyboard works to complete symphonies and operas. These include world-premiere recordings and CD premieres of important compositions, plus the commercial recording debuts of some celebrated artists.

Among the label’s major contributions to the world’s CD catalog are its recordings of Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera “The Medium” (the only available recording of the work at the time of its release) and world-premiere recording of Robert Kurka’s opera “The Good Soldier Schweik,” both with Chicago Opera Theater; the world premiere recording of Easley Blackwood’s Fifth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James DePreist, paired with his First Symphony performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch (originally released on RCA Records); the world-premiere recording of Franz Clement’s 1805 Violin Concerto, paired with Beethoven’s concerto, with violinist Pine and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by José Serebrier; two discs of orchestral music by Chicago composer Leo Sowerby (1895-1968), with Paul Freeman leading the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Sinfonietta; the three-disc African Heritage Symphonic Series of orchestral works by black composers, with maestro Freeman and the Chicago Sinfonietta;  the complete Mendelssohn string quartets with the Pacifica Quartet; a disc of David Diamond’s chamber music with the Chicago Chamber Musicians; and “Oppens Plays Carter,” the newest and only fully complete survey of Elliott Carter’s solo piano music, performed by Ursula Oppens, and just nominated for a Grammy Award.
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I thought it might be nice to close out the month of interviews from Chicago by featuring a couple musicians from dal niente.  The ensemble has some great concerts planned for October, but I caught violinist Austin Wulliman and flutist Shanna Gutierrez back in June.

Austin’s episode is worth listening to just to hear him say, “I love me some Scelsi”.  You don’t hear that very often, but it’s true, oh so true.  Shanna talks a little in her episode about interesting experiences with composers, but the real value is in the seemingly endless list of resources she mentions if you are writing for flute, or are just thinking about writing for flute.

Listen to Austin’s interview here and Shanna’s here.  Subscribe to the podcast here.

Ensemble dal niente begins their season on Friday with what they are calling OKTOBERFest.  You can find all the details on their website.  How many groups are pairing Franco Donatoni with John Luther Adams, or Bach with Rihm, or Helmut Lachenmann one week and Arvo Pärt the next week?  They are doing it all in October – I wish I could be there!

Friday, October 2 – 7:30pm ($10/5)
Columbia College Concert Hall, 1014 S. Michigan Ave.

Sunday, October 4 – 3 pm ($5)
Sherwood Conservatory of Music at Columbia College, 600 S. Michigan Ave.

Sunday, October 18 – 2:00pm ($5)
Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, 4802 N. Broadway Ave.

Sunday, October 25 – 3:00pm (FREE!)
Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

Last week on the podcast: Cliff Colnot (download Cliff’s interview here).  This week: Nicholas Photinos, cellist in eighth blackbird (download Nick’s interview here).

Turns out that 8bb was just finishing up some studio sessions at the end of last month for Reich’s Double Sextet.  Unfortunately, we will need to wait over a year until we actually get to hear it.  (Incidentally, Galen has some commentary about how frustrating it is that we have to wait so long for these recordings here.)  Anyway, I don’t know how many ensembles think about their programming in terms of a five-course meal, but these guys do, and Nick tells us a little bit about that process.  More beer!

Check-in next week for the first of two interviews with members of the Chicago based new music ensemble, dal niente.

As always, you can subscribe in iTunes here, on the web here, or just click here to download Nick’s episode.

One of the simple rules for the podcast is that there is a new episode every two weeks.  That rule was broken in July when all four members of ETHEL were featured.  And, that rule is being broken again in September when four musicians based in Chicago will be featured.

The month starts out with conductor Cliff Colnot (best known for his work with Contempo, Chicago Symphony’s MusicNow, ICE, and others).  Cliff is a unique person in that he feels so strongly about notation and rehearsal efficiency, that he has produced documents outlining the way he likes to see things as a conductor–and gives them away to anyone who asks.  Some of his thoughts on the topic are rather controversial, but anyone who has met him knows that it is hard to find a more appropriate word to describe him than “efficient”.   Even if you disagree with him on some of his points of view, it’s hard to argue with the fact that composers should be preparing scores and parts in a way that doesn’t waste rehearsal time.  Cliff describes how to get these documents for free at the end of his episode.

As always, you can subscribe in iTunes here, on the web here, or just click here to download the episode.

Since 1995 Chicago’s Percussion Scholarship Program has been shaping all kinds of mallet-whackers from grades 3 through 12. The program, under the direction of CSO percussionist Patricia Dash and Douglas Waddell, percussionist with Lyric Opera of Chicago, with amazing direction and arrangements by Cliff Colnot, has been growing something phenomenal. The kids’ musicianship and commitment seems to me every bit as stunning as Dudamel’s Venezuelan El Sistema stuff everybody’s been going gaga over. Don’t believe me? Just take in our young crew’s monster ride through Colnot’s arrangement of Dimitri Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony:

Incredible. The group’s big spring concert is coming up again this May 17th, 1:30 pm in Buntrock Hall at the Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue. And it’s free, meaning not much better value can be had for a Sunday’s afternoon.