Songbook Academy alum to open for Matthew Morrison

Two-time Songbook Academy® alumna Mia Kadar will open for Broadway and Glee star Matthew Morrison on Oct. 17 in the next BHI Senior Living Songbook Series concert of the season at Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts.

The 8 p.m. performance at the Payne & Mencias Palladium, part of the 2025-2026 Center Presents Season sponsored by Allied Solutions, reflects a new partnership between the Great American Songbook Foundation and Allied Solutions Center to support the BHI Senior Living Songbook Series, a performance lineup dedicated to the timeless music of the Great American Songbook.

Tickets for the Oct. 17 concert can be purchased online at TheCenterPresents.org, by phone at (317) 843-3800 or toll-free (877) 909-2787, or in person at the Payne & Mencias Palladium’s Fifth Third Bank Box Office, 1 Carter Green, Carmel.

A native of Dublin, Ohio, and graduate of Dublin Coffman High School, Kadar is in her first year studying musical theater at Ball State University. She has earned acclaim for her standout performances in numerous school and community productions (with roles including The Witch in Into the Woods, Regina George in Mean Girls and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof) and during the 2024 and 2025 Songbook Academy. The Songbook Foundation’s summer intensive brings 40 of the nation’s top high school singers to Carmel each year for a week of mentoring by Broadway stars and other arts and entertainment professionals.

For this special performance, Kadar will be accompanied by her 2025 Songbook Academy music director, Caelan Cardello, an accomplished jazz pianist, composer and bandleader who began playing at age 5 and studied both jazz and classical music before launching his professional career at 16. A graduate of William Paterson University (B.A. in Jazz Performance) and The Juilliard School (M.M.), he has performed at premier venues such as Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard and the Newport Jazz Festival.

Cardello has shared the stage with renowned artists including Christian McBride, Joe Farnsworth, Jimmy Cobb, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Bill Charlap and Rufus Reid, and was named a finalist in the prestigious 2023 American Pianists Association Jazz Competition. He recently stepped into the spotlight as a bandleader with the August release of his debut album, Chapter One, on Jazz Bird Records.

The new partnership between the Songbook Foundation and Allied Solutions Center will continue throughout the season with collaborations including a Songbook Academy alum opening for Tony-nominated Broadway performer and past Academy guest mentor Joshua Henry on March 13. Meanwhile, the Songbook Foundation is preparing for Songbook Academy 2026, with applications for the summer intensive now open to high school vocalists nationwide at TheSongbook.org/SongbookAcademy.