This week’s #RAArtistinFocus is New Zealand baritone Phillip Rhodes! Now based in the UK, he is a former Emerging Artist with New Zealand Opera and has since appeared there regularly in principal roles including the title role in Macbeth, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana, Silvio in Pagliacci, Marcello in La bohème, and Scarpia in Tosca.
In 2023, Phillip was appointed the first Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Laureate, recognising his achievements as a classical singer in his career both in New Zealand and overseas. The Foundation was created by Dame Kiri in 2004, and is committed to assisting New Zealand singers in their performing careers with mentoring and financial support.
Having enjoyed successful appearances as Ford in Falstaff and Father in Hansel and Gretel, today [8th May 2024] Phillip returns to Scottish Opera to sing Giorgio Germont in La Traviata. It’s a role he recently performed in his debut at Opera Australia. Read more here.
“…his delivery of the Act two air, “Di Provenza al mar,” was one of the production’s purely musical highlights.” (Gordon Williams, OperaWire, 2024)
A signature role for Phillip is Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, which he’s performed at the Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, and The Grange Festival. Watch him perform the Toreador Song here.
“Phillip Rhodes is an ostentatiously macho Toreador [...] splendid at the top” (Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 2021)
Watch Phillip sing the Father's aria from Hansel and Gretel at Scottish Opera, here.
