Where Teddy Tahu Rhodes Goes to Hide Out

The “pin-up boy of Australian opera”, New Zealand grand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, famous for his portrayal of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, talks with the Advertiser about how he unwinds and where he loves to hides away.

Rhodes, 49, says he travels for pleasure by “jumping on the plane and coming home to the place that I live.”

“I love my own country and revisiting and reconnecting with the place I actually live in,” Christchurch-born Rhodes says. “Although, I must say, there is something wonderful about going on holidays when work’s not involved. I often go for pleasure to a place within my own country, either another city in Australia or back to New Zealand to meet up with friends on the Canterbury Peninsula (pictured), where I spent time as a child.

“I am a lover of sport and I like watching it with my university friends, who are the sort of people who slot straight back into your life no matter how long you’ve been away. We’ll watch something like the World Cup Cricket final or a match at the MCG. Immensely pleasurable.

“[The one thing that’s in my carry-on luggage is] always music. If I put it in my suitcase and my music’s not there when I arrive, then I’m in trouble. If I’m away for work, I can throw everything out of my carry-on, except for my music. Because if I haven’t got my music, I’m in trouble.”

Rhodes joins fellow New Zealander Kiri Te Kanawa on the high seas, performing with an all-star cast for the BRAVO! Cruise of the performing arts, which departs Sydney on 17 October 2016.

Original article by Paul Ewart, The Advertiser, March 5, 2016.