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Elijah |

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs

“The event was also blessed to have Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ reverberant bass baritone voice and well-graded eloquence intoning the sentiments, warnings and challenges of the prophet Elijah. The sheer power and adroit directness of his text delivery commanded the stage- here booming from mid-stage behind the orchestra- in as complete characterisation as any of his past operatic roles with full staging. There was great vulnerability and shifting shades of colour is his despairing aria ‘It Is Enough’.”

Paul Nolan
Sydney Arts Guide
May 20, 0204

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes emerges as Elijah with a forceful declamation that harks back to the introit of a Renaissance mass. It was clear as a bell. When he prophesises a drought, the brass blares out a devil’s interval.”

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes negotiated the twists and turns of Elijah’s saturnine character with ease.”

Aryn Mohseni
SOTA (State of the Art)
May 20, 2024

“At the start, bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, as the prophet Elijah, stood just behind the orchestra before the vast forces of the Sydney Philharmonia Festival Chorus and admonished them with thunderous sternness: there will be no rain until I say so.”

Peter McCallum
Sydney Morning Herald
May 19, 2024

“Rhodes was placed behind the orchestra on a raised platform - which was dramatically forceful as a prophet speaking down to the children of Israel, but meant musically that he had to sing over the top of the orchestra in front of him. His charisma deserved to be front and centre.”

David Spicer
Stage Whispers
May 18, 2024

Fanciulla del West | Freeze Frame Opera

“Uber-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes is a towering, menacing presence as Sheriff Jack Rance, wiping the floor with the mob, both musically and dramatically.”

David Cusworth
The West Australian
August 24, 2022

Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Josh Pitterman and Guy Noble in Concert | Australian Tour

“His is a beautiful, rich, dark bass-baritone, rock-solid through all the range and he presented the aria with great panache and impeccable timing. ”

Suzannah Conway
Limelight
May 9, 2022

Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Guy Noble | South Australian Opera

‘You gasp again when his beautiful bass-baritone fills her Maj, ....”

David Grybowski
Bare Foot Review
November 19, 2021

“Bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes is one of Australia’s best loved singers - one whose repertoire runs through opera, musical theatre, folksong and even pop.  A man with the common touch, his popularity has remained undiminished, taking in a wider and more loyal fanbase than perhaps any other classically trained vocalist in Australia.” 

“His voice is an instrument of great beauty and strength, having no trouble filling the hall.”

“The tone and beguiling quality of Rhodes’ voice remains untouched.  There is a velvet-like richness and great resonance in the lower part of his register, and his voice exudes confidence and authority.”

“He also displayed a touching sense of fragility when dimineundo and falsetto were called for, displaying a mastery of the form.....”

Brett Allan-Bayes
Limelight
November 23, 2021

Faust | Opera Australia

“Tall bass-baritone Rhodes has never lacked impact on stage, but is utterly in his element as a dashing, malevolent Méphistophélès. His voice is a perfect fit for the role’s tessitura. On opening night he displayed effortless vocal power that filled the huge State Theatre, and a dark, burnished tone reminiscent of mahogany. I’ve heard Rhodes sing many times over many years, but can’t recall him sounding better.”

Patricia Maunder
Limelight
November 27, 2019

“The role of Méphistophélès is a strong fit for bass baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, and he returns to the role with equal success…. Rhodes maintains a malevolent presence, made all the more sinister with the occasional twinkle of amusement. Rhodes’ rich bass pours forth with power, his unflinching gaze ensuring that the devil sees all.”

Simon Parris: Man in Chair
Simon Parris
July 15, 2018

William Tell |    Victorian Opera

 “Under a mass of old-man hair, beard and make-up, an unrecognisable Teddy Tahu Rhodes showed off a bass that’s as rich as ever as the taciturn, dignified Melcthal.”

The New Arts Hub
Patricia Maunder
June 20, 2018

“In his portrayal of community elder and martyr Melchtal, Teddy Tahu Rhodes displays an impressive vocal and dramatic gravitas.”

Tony Way
Limelight
July 15, 2018

“It may be difficult to be recognise illustrious bass Teddy Tahu Rhodes in hermit-like bedraggled long grey hair and beard, but as soon as the first sonorous note pours forth there is no doubt to the singer’s identity. Making a welcome Melbourne stage return, Rhodes’ mighty bass voice powers through the space for an all too brief appearance as the ill-fated Melcthal, father of Arnold.”

Simon Parris: Man in Chair
Simon Parris
July 15, 2018

Don Giovanni | Opera Australia live Recording

“Rhodes himself who was born to sing this role...”

Murray Black
Limelight
August 2012

Don Giovanni | Opera Australia

“Tahu Rhodes is supremely at ease as the celebrated philanderer. Dramatically, he gives a centred performance…"

Sybil Nolan
Herald Sun
December 5, 2011

National Encore Tour | David Hobson and Teddy Tahu Rhodes

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes was in top form… suppleness, resonance and exactness of pitch… Without a hint of strain, he produced a stream of pure and perfectly projected vocal sound that was heart to particularly fine advantage in Schumann’s Widmung.”

Neville Cohn
The West Australian
November 1, 2011

Serious Songs | ABC Classics

“German composer Detlev Glanert… It is a compelling reworking of the original, performed here with considerable sensitivity by Teddy Tahu Rhodes and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra… The Barber receives a particularly fine performance with the ASQ at its best and Rhodes showing an impressive range of vocal colour and nuance.”

Mark Coughlan
The Weekend Australian
June 18 – 19, 2011

Tosca | West Australian Opera

“In his debut in the role, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, with an astonishingly powerful yet subtle voice and a genuinely menacing stage presence, was an utterly memorable and repulsive Scarpia. The second act, which explores Scarpia’s sadistic and lustful relationship with Tosca, was compelling and chilling.”

Paul Hopwood
The Australian
April 4, 2011


“…Tahu Rhodes’ swaggering, arrogant Scarpia fills the stage whenever he’s on it… Tahu Rhodes inhabits the character of Scarpia with frightening ease, his rich, powerful baritone registering the multiple layers of irony the modern setting makes possible with a withering existential abandon, Milton’s Satan personified.”

William Yeoman
The West Australian
April 4, 2011


“The real vocal and dramatic impact of the night came from Teddy Tahu Rhodes’s assumption of Scarpia for the first time. He made an imposing and chilling entry, tall, bald, looking dour and ruthless; singing with great tone and depth in a voice full of menace, this Scarpia has no charm at all, which fits right in with the libretto. His seduction of Tosca is a full-on sexual assault, as unapologetic as the lyrics suggest.”

Sandra Bowdler
Opera Britannia
April 6, 2011

Bach Arias | ABC Classics

“Lovers of Bach will want to add this to their collection; followers of Teddy Tahu Rhodes should rejoice in hearing this enrichment of his repertoire.”

Anthony Clarke
ABC Limelight
September 2010

Carmen (film) | Metropolitan Opera

“...Escamillo – here assuredly and musically well sung by New Zealand’s Teddy Tahu Rhodes.”

Michael Shmith
The Age
February 4, 2010

Marriage of Figaro | Cincinatti Opera

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes’s Count was an exuberant, sexy philanderer with a golden voice full of textural insight.”

Charles H. Parsons
Opera
November 2009

A Streetcar Named Desire | Opera Australia

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes is a powerhouse and commands the stage. His strong baritone is perfect for the role of the passionate, sexually domineering and brutal Stanley. He has all the strength and rage required to drive the story to its horrible, but inevitable, end.”

John Hay-MacKenzie
Sunday Herald Sun
December 6, 2009

Elijah

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes portrayed a stern, self-controlled Elijah. It is enough was one of many high points, featuring fine cello obbligato.”

Elizabeth Ruthven
The Mercury
November 3, 2009

You’ll Never Walk Alone | ABC Classics

“…the New Zealand baritone, has a voice that fits him to a T: It’s strikingly beautiful, with a rough-hewn quality… Think firm oak beams touched by sunlight… in Vaughan Williams’s nostalgically poignant “Youth and Love” – it was beautiful.”

Anne Midgette
Washington Post
May 14, 2009

Antony and Cleopatra | New York City Opera

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes… He is a striking man who produces a big, burnished bass-baritone sound.”

Fred Cohn
Opera News
April 2009


“Teddy Tahu Rhodes, whose Met debut last winter as Ned Keene in Peter Grimes was striking even when surrounded by a huge, excellent cast, was just as impressive in this Shakespearean colossus of a leading role. If the City opera still has its glorious production of Mefistofele, this is the man to renew it; if it hasn’t, some company should present one. He has the presence and the range, the power and the legato for it. His Antony was both leader of men and pensive, even depressed, as he considered the ruin his passions have led him to in hollow, reflective phrases.”

John Yohalem
Opera Today
January 19, 2009


“…Teddy Tahu Rhodes… His charisma and resonant timbre has propelled Rhodes’ rapid rise in the opera world. His is the ideal sound for the virile warrior torn between the call to battle and his consuming romantic passion.”

Eric Myers
Variety Reviews
January 16, 2009

Peter Grimes | The Metropolitan Opera

“Most striking was Teddy Tahu Rhodes, making his Met debut as Ned Keene. This young New Zealand baritone has generated a lot of buzz for his good looks, but it was his full, healthy singing that stole the show.”

Anne Midgette
Washington Post
March 2008


“There was a notable debut by the New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, robust-voiced and swaggering as Ned Keene, the apothecary who peddles quack remedies to his neighbours.”

Anthony Tommasini
The New York Times
March 2008


“Teddy Tahu Rhodes makes a dapper debut as the schemer Ned Keene”.

Martin Bernheimer
Financial Times
March 2008


“The evening’s most stunning vocal performance, though, came from baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, who has been inexplicably absent from San Francisco ever since his unforgettable 2000 debut as Joe de Rocher in the second cast of Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking.” Rhodes combined robust singing with an alarmingly charismatic stage presence to make a usually minor character – the village apothecary Ned Keene – seem like a central focus of the drama.”

Joshua Kosman
San Francisco Chronicle
March 2008


“And the athletic presence that New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, in an effective house debut, brought to Ned Keene stood in provocative contrast to the apothecary’s moral weakness.”

Fred Cohn
Opera News
May 2008

A Streetcar Named Desire | Opera Australia

“Teddy Tahu Rhodes as the brutal Stan Kowalski bristled with primitive energy, effectively projecting the threatening vocal persona…”

Peter McCallum
Sydney Morning Herald
October 6, 2007


“Crackling with sex-appeal, rich-voiced and terrifyingly menacing, Teddy Tahu Rhodes… gives a towering performance.”

Bill Stephens
The Canberra Review
August 16, 2007


“Teddy Tahu Rhodes exudes animal magnetism as the violent Stanley.”

The Sunday Telegraph
August 9, 2007