Biography

Rachel Ryan Nicholes is a Utah based stage actress and Voice Teacher. Her love of musical theater started at home in Canada and eventually brought her to the United States to further her training. She has spent fifteen years in the United States and Canada studying music and theater and performing professionally. Rachel recieved a degree in Opera from BYU-Idaho and a Masters of Music in Musical Theater from Oklahoma City University. While studying for her masters she completed all three levels of Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) training from the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia and wrote her masters thesis entitled: ?Cross-Training in Musical Theater Voice Pedagogy: Co-ordinating Flexibility in Vocal Registration Utilizing Musical Theater Repertoire.? She has recently become certified as an Evidence Based Voice teacher after completing Voice Function 101 and The Mechanics of Belt with Maddie Tarbox.

Some of her favorite roles include: Rosalie Mullins in School of Rock (HCTS), Baroness Elsa Schrader in The Sound of Music (HCTO), Judy Haynes in White Christmas (Playmill Theater), Adrianna in The Comedy of Errors (Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park), and Lucy in Menotti?s opera The Telephone (Idaho Falls Opera Theater). When she?s not teaching voice lessons at the HCTO Studio in Orem, or Utah Valley University, she can be found performing professionally across Utah, hiking with her husband and puppy, or completing some organizing project.