2025 National Screeners

Every student who applies to the Songbook Academy receives detailed feedback from our national panel of vocal and music professionals. Meet this year's incredible panel of adjudicators!

Shereen Ahmed was most recently seen starring as Ellen in Arena Stage’s original adaptation of The Age of Innocence. She made her Broadway debut in the Lincoln Center Theater production of My Fair Lady and headlined the national tour as Eliza Doolittle, which earned her a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle nomination. Her Off-Broadway credits include Claudia in Nine at The Kennedy Center, Franca in The Light in the Piazza at City Center Encores! and Adele in Classic Stage Company’s A Man of No Importance. Shereen originated the role of Ellen in the world premiere of The Age of Innocence at The Old Globe.

Her concert highlights include performing for President Biden at the White House in honor of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and starring as Joan Fletcher in Strike Up the Band and as Iolanthe in Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta Iolanthe at Carnegie Hall. She has appeared in New Amsterdam (NBC) and Beltline to Broadway, and performed in the PBS live telecast Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day with the Boston Pops.

Shereen has been profiled in Vogue Arabia and named one of "40 Under 40" accomplished Arab Americans for her work in the theatre. She has served as a guest speaker at the United Nations’ 14th Conference of States Parties and is a global ambassador for Education for Employment (EFE). Shereen holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Towson University.

Instagram: @shereen_ahmed 

Steven Cuevas (he/him) is a Filipino American music director, musician, orchestrator, and arranger based in NYC.

Broadway: The Lion King; The Notebook; The Who’s Tommy; Days of Wine and Roses; New York, New York; Dancin’; & Juliet; Moulin Rouge!; Tina: The Tina Turner Musical; Once On This Island; Anastasia; Kinky Boots.

Select Off-Broadway: Teeth, The Connector, Hell’s Kitchen, Kinky Boots, Little Shop of Horrors, Closer Than Ever.

Tours: Tina, Moulin Rouge!, Once On This Island, Kinky Boots, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Spring Awakening.

Regional: Eighty-Sixed (Diversionary Theatre), Macbeth in Stride (A.R.T.).

Recordings: Straight Forward, Once On This Island, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Monstersongs.

Orchestrations: Gold Mountain.

Proud member: Local 802 AFM, AEA, Recording Academy.

Instagram: @StevenMCuevas

At just 28 years old, Melinda Rose Rodriguez has made a name for herself in the jazz world. Melinda attended The New England Conservatory of Music when first beginning her professional music career. Since High School, she has been a 4-time Downbeat Music Award winner and a two-time YoungArts winner.

She has played at a number of festivals including The Miami Downtown Jazz Festival and The Litchfield Jazz Festival and has traveled as far as Bermuda and Japan to perform in other festivals. Melinda has traveled to perform alongside Michael Feinstein, Fred Hersch, Cyrille Aimee, Jane Monheit and worked frequently with jazz greats such as Kevin Mahogany.

Melinda is a recent 1st place winner in the International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition which took place in Washington DC in early 2019. Melinda also recently debuted with the Legendary Count Basie Jazz Orchestra in 2019. She spent 2018-20 as a teaching artist at The University of Illinois, Millikin University and Illinois Wesleyan University all while pursuing her Master’s degree in performance.

2020 showed promise for Melinda as she debuted at legendary clubs across the country such as Birdland Jazz Club in New York City and Andy's Jazz Club in the heart of Chicago, IL. She was also the winner of the Ben Tucker Jazz Award and Johnny Mercer Award in the prestigious American Traditions Vocal Competition held annually in Savannah, GA.

She was a contestant on Season 17 of NBC's hit singing show, The Voice where she worked closely with Kelly Clarkson. Upon re-entering a post-covid world, Melinda was the People's Choice Award winner in the 2022 American Traditions Vocal competition and debuted with The Asheville Symphony Orchestra in late April 2022.

As of 2023, Melinda was selected as the first ever commercial vocalist of the US Army Blues Big Band in Washington, DC. She is the first singer to ever serve this element of The United States Army Band in its 51st year of existence. Ms. Rose competed in the 2024 American Traditions Vocal Competition where she placed 4th.

In June 2023, Melinda recorded her debut album, I'm On My Way, featuring original compositions and standard repertoire.

A.J. Shively

Broadway: Paradise Square (Tony, OCC, and Chita Rivera nominations); Bright Star (Drama Desk nomination); La Cage Aux Folles.

Off-Broadway/New York: Philadelphia, Here I Come (Theatre World Awards’ Dorothy Loudon Award, Drama Desk, Lortel nomination); A Man Of No Importance (Lortel award, OCC nom.; CSC); Titanic (Encores!); Brigadoon (Irish Rep); February House (The Public); The Suitcase Under The Bed (Mint); Unlock’d (Prospect); …Guide To A Successful Marriage (Cherry Lane); Things To Ruin (Second Stage); Little Airplanes Of The Heart (EST); ReWrite (Urban Stages).

Regional: Arena Stage; Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Kennedy Center; Central Theatre Group; Old Globe; Boston Pops.

TV/film: “Julia” (HBO Max); “Bull” (CBS); “Hunters” (Amazon Prime); “Homeland” (Showtime); “Madam Secretary” (CBS); “The Blacklist” (NBC); “Younger” (TV Land); Other People’s Bodies (upcoming); Nobody Walks In LA; From Nowhere; Syrup; HairBrained.

Training: University of Michigan; Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.