09 Aug 2006
“With Teddy Tahu Rhodes singing in five out of the eight works on the ACO's The Visionaries program, this was an excellent chance to hear one of the world's leading baritones in concert.
The tall, lean New Zealander is wonderful to watch. Like Bryn Terfel, he is a true performer of song, wholly and frankly engaged in the process, the music moving through his body and lighting his face.
Rhodes' style is well matched to the ACO's, as anyone who has seen its leader, Richard Tognetti, play will appreciate.
Yet though Rhodes and Tognetti literally launch themselves into the music, they are also masters of restraint, easing back effortlessly from a rich effusion of glorious noise to a slower, quieter, finely articulated sound - just the approach required for this program of early opera and sacred music.”
Sybil Nolan, Herald Sun | 09 Aug 2006
08 Aug 2006
“Bach began and ended the Australian Chamber Orchestra's latest subscription series concert. The expert instrumentalists presented a stripped-clean version of the Suite No 1 in C, each minuet and gavotte handled with the group's customary finesse. At the afternoon's end, baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes gave a carefully graduated account of the cantata Ich habe genug, memorable most of all for its central aria, Schlummert ein, which emphasised this popular singer's musicality…”
Clive O’Connell, The Age | 08 Aug 2006
07 Mar 2006
"This is one of the most complex and intricate programs we've ever done," announced Australian Chamber Orchestra artistic director and lead violinist Richard Tognetti before his orchestra launched into J.S. Bach's Suite No.1 in C major…
The ACO's clean string sound projected well in the suite but never drowned out the excellent guest trio of woodwinds (Tania Frazer and Huw Jones on oboe, Andrew Barnes on bassoon). Baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes employed his precise diction, increasingly rich tone and that audience-pleasing smile in the two great bass arias from Bach's St Matthew Passion and the staple Ombra mai fu, from Handel's Xerxes. Trumpeter Paul Goodchild was rightly given an extra item in the program, combining brilliantly with Rhodes in Handel's The Trumpet Shall Sound, from Messiah, and Revenge, Timotheus Cried from Alexander's Feast."
Peter J. Casey, The Australian | 07 Mar 2006