Jonathan Pierce RHODES

With his mellifluous "honey-voice," tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes has emerged as an exciting young presence in the world of opera. Last season, Mr. Rhodes made an exciting debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago reprising his role of Police Buddy 2 and covering The Son in Blue. He also made a return to Washington National Opera as Mingo in Porgy & Bess, made his Baltimore Symphony debut as the Messenger in Aida, joined InSeries for a workshop of Damien Geter and Jerrod Lee’s Delta King Blues, and sang a concert with Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra. In the 2025-2026 season, Mr. Rhodes makes his Houston Grand Opera debut reprising Mingo in Porgy & Bess and returns to Washington National Opera as Zodzetrick in Treemonisha. He also joins the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra as the tenor soloist in Tin’s The Drop That Contained the Sea, which he will reprise with the Billings Symphony next season. On the concert stage, Mr. Rhodes is set to return to Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah. This summer, he joins The Glimmerglass Festival as the Governor in a touring production of Kurt Weill’s Happy End.

Mr. Rhodes recently sang the role of Timothy Laughlin in the West Coast premiere of Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers with Opera Parallèle. Other roles include Pong in Puccini’s Turandot (Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera), role debuts as The Hippo in The Lion, The Unicorn and Me and A Priest in Songbird (Washington National Opera) performing both Police Buddy 2 (Washington National Opera) and The Son (New Orleans Opera) in Blue, and Frank in The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson (Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Festival.) During his time with the Glimmerglass Festival, he sang Cacambo and covered the title role in Candide, receiving praise as a "big-voiced standout" by the Wall Street Journal. He was also seen as the Man in Armor and Priest #1 in The Magic Flute and Cherubiel in the world premiere of Holy Ground.

Mr. Rhodes is a recipient of an encouragement award in the Houston District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the first place Neva Pilgrim Award in the Civic Morning Musicals Competition and Eastman’s William Warfield Scholarship Award.

Mr. Rhodes received training as a Cafritz Young Artist with Washington National Opera and spent three summers at the Glimmerglass Festival. Mr. Rhodes holds both a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from The Eastman School of Music/University of Rochester. Additionally, he recently graduated from Rice University, where he received his Masters in Opera Performance.