|
CHICAGO (November 7, 2025) — Chicago-based Cedille Records received three nominations in the 2026 Grammy® Awards, continuing its long record of recognition for artistic excellence and engineering distinction. The label has now earned 38 Grammy nominations and eight wins since its founding in 1989.
Two Cedille releases were honored this year including Standard Stoppages by Third Coast Percussion, which received nominations for Best Engineered Album, Classical and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, and composer Shawn E. Okpebholo’s Songs in Flight which was nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.
“These nominations represent the essence of Cedille’s mission to amplify Chicago’s vibrant classical community and to share the creative voices of today’s most compelling composers and performers with the world,” said Cedille Records founder and president James Ginsburg. “We’re thrilled to see our artists, whose work embodies imagination and excellence, recognized by the Recording Academy.”
Released in April 2024, Standard Stoppages celebrates Third Coast Percussion’s 20th
anniversary season with world premiere recordings of newly commissioned works by Jlin, Tigran Hamasyan, Jessie Montgomery, Musekiwa Chingodza, and the late Zakir Hussain. Produced and engineered by a Grammy-winning and -nominated team including Judith Sherman, Bill Maylone, and Colin Campbell, the album reflects both the ensemble’s rhythmic dynamism and Cedille’s commitment to state-of-the-art sound.
Shawn E. Okpebholo’s Songs in Flight, released in February 2024, brings together a distinguished roster of artists, including singers Rhiannon Giddens, Karen Slack, Reginald Mobley, and Cedille artist and Board member Will Liverman (who is also nominated for Best Classical Compendium for his The Dunbar/Moore Sessions, Vol. II EP on the Lexicon Classics label); pianist Paul Sánchez; and saxophonist Julian Velasco, in this world premiere recording of a deeply moving song cycle inspired by historical advertisements seeking self-emancipated individuals. The work, which sets texts by Tsitsi Ella Jaji, Crystal Simone Smith, and Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess, explores themes of resilience and freedom through music of striking immediacy and depth.
Both projects exemplify Cedille’s role as a home for forward-looking classical music rooted in Chicago’s artistic community yet resonating far beyond it.
| 
