Trisha Hales
Accompanist/ Orchestra/Musical Direction
Trisha was born and raised in Gary, Indiana where she was raised in a musical household. Her mother was a nurse who sang in choirs all her life and her father, a gas serviceman for NIPSCO, played the flute and piccolo in the Northwest Indiana Symphony, U.S. Steel Carillco band and many other professional musical organizations in NW Indiana. Piano lessons were begun in third grade and voice lessons in ninth.
Upon graduation from Calumet High School in 1973 she auditioned for and was accepted to Indiana University School of Music where she studied with the late opera star Eileen Farrell. While at I.U., she had the privilege of appearing in the world premier performance of John Eaton’s opera Danton and Robespierre as well as premiering the song cycle Songs for Patricia written by Alec Wilder. She graduated with High Honors in 1977 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance and received her Masters in 1978 in Vocal Pedagogy.
Since returning to northwest Indiana she has been a substitute teacher and accompanist for Merrillville Schools, taught for 15 years at IUN and, after serving 3 years as an adjunct faculty member in music, is now a visiting instructor at
Purdue Calumet. She also served as a grant review panelist for
the Indiana Arts Commission/ Northwest Indiana Arts
Association. In her spare time she teachers voice privately and
has had the privilege of seeing many of her students performing professionally in national tours of Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and currently on Broadway in Aida.
Trisha is also very active in community work especially in the area of theatre. She has appeared on stage in the roles of Laurie in Oklahoma; Marian Paroo in The Music Man; Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls Guinevere in Camelot and Sister Helen in the Indiana premier of Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up. Much in demand as a vocal coach and music director for regional theatre, she was chosen to serve as music director for the gala theatrical opening of the Center for Visual and Performing Arts production of Sweeney Todd.
She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and is a voting member of the National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences (Grammy Awards).
She has also been listed in the Who’s Who of American Women and Women in Education and has received the Lifetime Achievement Award and several other awards and nominations for “Outstanding Vocal/ Music Direction” from the Northwest Indiana Excellence in Theatre Foundation.
