Baritone Phillip Rhodes Debuts at Opera Australia

New Zealander Phillip Rhodes (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Kahungunu) “proved to be a safe hand” in his debut role as Giorgio Germont for Opera Australia in Verdi classic, La Traviata.

“Listening to his sonorous baritone deployed with great effect in one of the world’s top 10 operas you probably wouldn’t guess that his musical tastes include such genres as hip-hop,” Tom Pillans writes in a review of the opera for The Daily Telegraph.

“The singing is excellent, with the added bonus of Verdi’s most heart-stirring music,” Pillans concludes.

Hastings-born Rhodes was one of a group of New Zealand singers in London who recorded the concert Whānau: London Voices of Aotearoa, far from home, at the Royal Albert Hall in November 2020.

Current and upcoming productions for Rhodes include the title role of Macbeth (New Zealand Opera), Enrico Lucia di Lammermoor (Wellington Opera), Escamillo Carmen (Scottish Opera), and a return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Original article by Tom Pillans, The Daily Telegraph, January 5, 2024.