Teddy Tahu Rhodes Triumphs in Puccini's Tosca (Opera Queensland) and Mendelssohn's Elijah (Sydney Philharmonia Choirs)
Congratulations to Teddy Tahu Rhodes, who recently sang the role of Baron Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca at the Opera at Jimbour event at Jimbour House (Friday 10–Sunday 12 May), a historic homestead near Dalby on Queensland's Western Downs. You can read an interview with Teddy about the role in Limelight here.
The following weekend, on Saturday 18 May, Teddy sung the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah, joining Sydney Philharmonia's 400-voice Festival Chorus and conductor Brett Weymark in the Sydney Opera House for this colossal choral masterpiece.
'It marked the return of the popular Kiwi bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes to the Sydney Opera House stage. The title role is part of his musical DNA – he first performed it in Auckland in 2007 and most recently in Sydney in 2022 with the Willoughby Symphony – and his magisterial presence and operatic projection cut through from his desk at the back of the orchestra. [...] dominating it all was Rhodes' imposing performance. His powerful tone and ability to inhabit the character of his role is undiminished and his voice is still secure across the range.'Limelight
'The capacity crowd left, not with a sense of having done penance, but with the exhilaration of having experienced moments of some magnificence, and a strong sense of the need to be good lest the full power of Tahu Rhodes, soloists and the Festival Chorus and orchestra be visited upon them.'
– The Sydney Morning Herald