Joseph Helinski, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, obtained his bachelor of music degree in voice from the Pennsylvania State University School of Music. Immediately upon graduation Mr. Helinski attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he studied under the tutelage of world renowned opera singer Renée Fleming, and vocal coach Stephen Smith. Mr. Helinski has made numerous appearances with the Pittsburgh Opera in productions of Florencia en el Amazonas, Moby Dick, Carmen, Dead Man Walking, and The Turn of the Screw and has performed with the Pittsburgh Opera Theatre as the title character in Amahl and the Night Visitors. Mr. Helinski has been a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony on multiple occasions including The Lord of the Rings Symphony, their Holiday Pops Concerts, and Tiny Tots Concert Series. In his time at the Pennsylvania State University he held principal roles in Penn State Opera Theatre’s productions of La Bohème, The Pirates of Penzance, Trouble in Tahiti, and The Barber of Seville among others. He served as president of The Pennsylvania State University Concert Choir where he traveled as a soloist with the choir throughout the continental United States, Iceland, and Australia.

Mr. Helinski is Music Director at South Hills Catholic Academy, an independent, classical school in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, where he oversees a thriving music program including a full orchestra, fully produced musical productions, and the South Hills Catholic Academy Schola Cantorum. Mr. Helinski is a chorister with the Pittsburgh Opera, runs a private voice and piano studio, and serves on the Aspen Music Festival and School Alumni Advisory Board. He possesses a vast knowledge of diverse liturgical musical styles and has served as choir director and cantor for both the Ordinary and Extraordinary forms of the Mass, and the Eastern Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil. He is associate organist at the historic St. Anthony’s Chapel in Troy Hill, associate organist at his home parish of St. Oscar Romero in Canonsburg and choir director at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Bridgeville. Mr. Helinski is a frequent guest clinician throughout the diocese of Pittsburgh for various parishes and schools, where he specializes in the changing male voice. He currently resides in North Strabane Township with his wife, Katie, and two young children, Sophie and Peter