Kevin Rhodes

INTRODUCTION

Maestro Kevin Rhodes has been a presence in the world’s musical capitols for over three decades leading performances at some of the most prestigious institutions including La Scala of Milan, The Vienna State Opera, The Paris Opera, The Rome Opera, The Berlin State Opera, The Bavarian State Opera, The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, The Dutch National Ballet, The Korean National Ballet, The Slovenian National Opera and Ballet, The Slovak National Opera and Ballet, The Deutsche Oper am Rhein, among many others. Equally at home in opera, concert, and ballet, Mr. Rhodes has distinguished himself with an exceptionally large and varied repertoire, having conducted over 60 orchestras in more than 20 countries.

RECENT AND FUTURE ENGAGEMENTS

During the 2024/25 season, Rhodes returned to the Opera House of Rome, Italy, the National Opera of Paris, the Slovenian National Opera, and the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, conducting such diverse works as The Rite of Spring, La bohéme, The Sleeping Beauty, La traviata, and many others. His 19 performances of Manuel Legris’ production of Delibes’ Sylvia at the Opéra National de Paris marked the third house following Vienna and Milan in which this production has played, with Rhodes having led all performances since its 2018 premiere in Vienna.

The culmination of the 2024/25 season was an internationally acclaimed co-production between the opera houses of Trieste (Teatro Lirico di Giuseppe Verdi Trieste) and Bologna (Teatro Comunale di Bologna) of Leonard Bernstein’s landmark operetta, Candide. For this unique production, he collaborated with Director and Choreographer, Renato Zanella, celebrating a 30-year anniversary of artistic work.

Back in the US in addition to leading the regular orchestra concerts of the Traverse City Philharmonic, he also returned to his roots as a pianist, and performed as piano recitalist in a concert to open the new facility that organization inaugurated in the fall of ‘24 featuring music of Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, and Poulenc and appeared again later in a duo program with piano and flute with music of Prokofiev, Reinecke, Martin, and others.

The 2025/26 season sees Rhodes returning to La Scala of Milan (The Sleeping Beauty ballet and Gala Fracci), the Slovakian National Opera and Ballet (Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and concerts), and the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet (The Nutcracker and a “triple bill” program), as well as leading his Traverse City Philharmonic in a season including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Holst’s The Planets, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, Brahms’ Requiem, Dvořák’s New World Symphony and many staples of the concert literature.

BIOGRAPHY

Currently in his 25th season as Music and Artistic Director of the Traverse Symphony Philharmonic in Michigan, Maestro Kevin Rhodes has also served as Chief Conductor of the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava, Principal Ballet Conductor of the Vienna State Opera, Music Director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in MA for a record 20 years, and Principal Conductor of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston.

Rhodes is one of the most sought-after conductors by the world’s major ballet companies and their orchestras. His work at many of those illustrious opera houses has been seen and heard throughout Europe in many televised appearances and all over the world with the introduction of cinema performances, in addition to a number of productions having been filmed for DVD.

The 2023/24 season included four productions at the Slovenian National Theater in Ljubljana, including La bohème and The Rite of Spring. He made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and later in the season, he joined that company on tour in Madrid, Spain, for Patrice Bart’s La Bayadére. Notices for this revival were exceptional, calling his interpretation revelatory in bringing out nuances, colors, and details never before heard in this 28-year-old production. He once again returned to Teatro alla Scala for the much heralded production of Nureyev’s La Bayadére and toured with the company in Swan Lake to Cagliari, Italy. Return engagements in Oslo and Rome rounded out his theatrical season, while Rhodes made his concert debut with the orchestra of Trieste in concert in September 2023 in a program of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, which led to the 2025 Candide production.

The 2022/23 season was an especially active one for Rhodes as he led over a hundred performances throughout Europe of varying productions including Aida, Carmen, Turandot, Rusalka, Das Lied von der Erde, Swan Lake, Giselle, Berg’s Violin Concerto, La Bayadére and others in Rome, Bratislava, Milan, Ljubljana, Oslo, in addition to leading his 22nd season as Music Director/Artistic Director of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, USA.

Kevin Rhodes began his European career as a house conductor at the Basel Stadttheater in Basel, Switzerland. After Basel, he moved on to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf/Duisburg, Germany as a First Kappelmeister, leading hundreds of performances of the standard operatic repertoire from The Magic Flute to Der Rosenkavelier, while at the same time serving as the principal ballet conductor of the Vienna State Opera which followed a very successful debut season there with Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. Further engagements followed at many other opera houses and orchestras throughout the continent…Berlin, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Naples, Verona, Milan, Paris, Stuttgart, etc.

In 2001 Rhodes took over the leadership of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts and the at that time named Traverse Symphony Orchestra in Michigan. He devoted himself to the building of those two ensembles as well as attending to the many outreach and education activities of those institutions. Under his leadership, those ensembles and audiences experienced tremendous growth and enthusiasm for classical music. His tenure in Springfield was a landmark 20 years, and he continues with the Traverse Symphony with a contract extending his leadership to 30 seasons. With the start of the 2010-2011 season, Rhodes began working as Principal Conductor of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston and has been invigorating that ensemble with his trademark energy. Maestro Rhodes has also guest-conducted the Houston Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony (FL), the Canton Symphony (OH), the Queens Symphony (NJ), and many more.

Rhodes began his professional conducting career at the age of 16 in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana. He received his BM in Piano Performance from Michigan State University, where he studied conducting with Maestro Leon Gregorian, and earned his MM in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Illinois under the tutelage of Paul Vermel.