Songbook Academy to Welcome Scott Bradlee, Adam Kantor, and Miche Braden as Guest Mentors
Lea Salonga, Mandy Gonzalez, and Michael Feinstein headline the intensive at Allied Solutions Center in Carmel, Indiana.
The Great American Songbook Foundation has expanded the artistic team for the 2026 Songbook Academy®, adding Postmodern Jukebox founder Scott Bradlee, Emmy and GRAMMY Award winner Adam Kantor, and acclaimed singer, actor, musician, songwriter, arranger and musical director Miche Braden as guest mentors while welcoming Broadway performers Janet Dacal and Michael Maliakel among several new faculty members. The annual summer intensive will take place July 11–18 at Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana.
Together, these guest mentors and faculty members will guide 40 talented high school singers from across the country who have been selected to participate in this year’s program, which features three public events at the Payne & Mencias Palladium. The events include the free Public Masterclass at 2 p.m. on Monday, July 13; the Songbook Showcase featuring solos by all 40 students at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 16; and the culminating performance, Songbook Academy in Concert, on Saturday, July 18 at 7 p.m.
As previously announced, the Public Masterclass will feature Lea Salonga, best known for her Tony Award-winning role in Miss Saigon and for providing the singing voices of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and Fa Mulan in Mulan and Mulan II, alongside five-time GRAMMY Award nominee Michael Feinstein, founder of the Great American Songbook Foundation. The Songbook Showcase will feature Feinstein with Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez, known for her role in the megahit Hamilton as Angelica Schuyler, for originating Nina Rosario in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical In the Heights, and for starring as Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked.
New guest mentors for the 2026 Songbook Academy include:
Scott Bradlee is the pianist, arranger and creative force behind Postmodern Jukebox, the popular time-twisting musical collective that combines the popular hits of the present with the musical styles of yesteryear. Inspired by the work of jazz pioneers and American Songbook composers after a chance encounter with George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Bradlee began uploading various “musical experiments” to YouTube, incorporating a rotating cast of musicians, singers, and tap dancers. Today, Postmodern Jukebox has more than 6.5 million subscribers and performs over 200 shows a year worldwide, including headlining appearances at Radio City Music Hall and Royal Albert Hall in London.
Adam Kantor is currently starring in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been at City Center off-Broadway. He won an Emmy and a GRAMMY Award for his performance in the Tony Award-winning production of The Band’s Visit on Broadway, and previously starred on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof, Next to Normal, and the final cast of Rent, and off-Broadway in The Last Five Years and Avenue Q. He guest starred on TV in High Potential, Billions, The Good Wife, and starred in the feature film Either Side of Midnight. Adam is also a Tony-nominated co-producer of Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
Miche Braden is a singer, actor, musician, songwriter, arranger and musical director from Detroit, where she was an Artist in Residence with the Detroit Council of the Arts, the founder and former lead singer of Straight Ahead (women‘s jazz band), and was a protégé of Motown musicians Thomas “Beans” Bowles, Earl Van Dyke, and jazz master Harold McKinney. Nominated for the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Off Broadway Alliance Awards for The Devil’s Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith, her credits include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Nina Simone: Four Women, and television appearances on Inventing Anna, Raising Kanan, Bull and The Blacklist.
For full bios of all the guest mentors at the 2026 Songbook Academy, visit TheSongbook.org/Mentors26.
The Songbook Academy has also expanded its faculty and visiting clinician roster with several acclaimed performers and educators.
New faculty members for the 2026 Songbook Academy include:
Janet Dacal, joining as a vocal coach, is a Drama Desk Award-winning Broadway performer whose credits include originating the role of Carla before taking over as Nina Rosario in In the Heights, New York, New York, Prince of Broadway, Wonderland, and the national tour of The Band’s Visit. Beginning under the mentorship of GRAMMY Award winner Gloria Estefan, she has collaborated with Ricky Martin, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, and Marc Anthony, and toured internationally with Luis Enrique. Her solo debut album MY STANDARDS reimagines the Great American Songbook through the lens of her Cuban-American heritage.
Michael Maliakel, joining as a vocal coach, recently finished a year as Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby on Broadway after spending three years as the title role in Disney’s Aladdin. A trailblazing Indian-American performer and award-winning multi-genre vocalist, his stage credits include The Phantom of the Opera (National Tour), Titanic (NYCC Encores), Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid (MUNY), Sunset Boulevard (Kennedy Center), and Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding (Berkeley Rep). Michael’s on-screen work includes CBS’ Bull and FBI and Before alongside Billy Crystal (Apple TV+).
Other special guests and clinicians joining this year’s Songbook Academy include:
Michael Hanley, serving as a vocal technique clinician, is an Associate Professor of Voice at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Program Director of the Vocal/Choral Intensive. A sought-after pedagogue recognized for his expertise in vocal cross-training, he frequently presents at national conferences on multi-style pedagogy and has helped students build careers on and off-Broadway and in opera.
Nancy Whelan, leading the Songbook Choir, is a highly sought-after pianist/keyboardist with extensive Broadway touring and regional theater experience. Her credits include the national tours of Les Misérables, Frozen, An American in Paris and Matilda the Musical, along with decades of experience as a collaborative pianist with major arts organizations.
Kenny Shepard, choreographing Songbook Academy in Concert, writes, directs, and choreographs projects starring GRAMMY, Tony, Emmy, Obie, and Drama Desk Award winners. An Assistant Teaching Professor at Ball State University, he choreographed Jasmine Amy Rogers' live concert Where I Wanna Be, filmed for PBS, and is an on-camera choreographer for Broadway Jr. and their Disney Collection.
April Varner, a 2015 Songbook Academy alumna returning as a special guest performer, is a New York-based jazz vocalist recognized for her bebop technique and contemporary storytelling. She was named Rising Star Vocalist in the 73rd DownBeat Critics Poll and won the 2023 International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition.
For more information on all faculty and clinicians, visit TheSongbook.org/Faculty26.
Ticket and event information for all three public events of the 2026 Songbook Academy can be found at TheSongbook.org/SongbookAcademy26, or by calling the Fifth Third Bank Box Office at (317) 843-3800 or toll-free at (877) 909-2787.
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