My name is Caelan Cardello and I am a senior at Teaneck High School, class of 2018. Among my academic achievements these past 4 years, I have been named student of the month and, as an honor student, have  maintained a high GPA.

I started playing piano at the age of 5: music, specifically jazz piano, quickly became a passion in my childhood that ultimately turned into an obsession. I realized early on that practicing, though it demanded one’s focus and attention, could actually be fun, especially as I was developing the basic skills of improvisation. From this discipline I have learned the importance of working hard to finish a task or achieve a certain goal. I started studying jazz with Allen Farnham in 2011 and classically with Steven Masi in 2014. In 2012, I joined Jazz House Kids, a program dedicated to furthering children’s musical talent and ambitions which had a major impact on my growth and love of Jazz.

Other accolades:  member of the NJ Region I Senior Jazz Band (2014-17); NJ  All State Jazz Band (2016 and 2017); Grammy Band Finalist (2016 and 2017) ; National Young Arts winner (2018). The Caelan Cardello trio was featured at the 2017 Berkshire Jazz Festival Jazz Prodigy series.

My future plans include touring the world with my own group, composing, continuing to reinvent myself and sharing my love and passion of jazz with others.