Rhodes: Actor Singer

Duration: 53 minutes  
Year: 2011
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Director: Murray Ferguson

Phillip Rhodes came from a very difficult family background and it would have been very easy for him to have fallen into drug addiction, become a gang member or just another crime statistic. However fortune changed for Phillip when he was taken in by Henare O’Keefe. O’Keefe saw his potential and gently nudged him in the right direction so that his talent, both as an actor and baritone could be developed.
Winning the 2005 Lockwood Aria and the 2007 Lexus Song Quest brought him to the attention of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. Their grant enabled him to accept a place at the prestigious Cardiff International Academy of Voice. Since then he has received further Foundation grants that have enabled him to continue his studies at the Denis O’Neill Academy and to attend the Solti Te Kanawa Academia Summer School.

This documentary not only looks at how Phillip has developed as an Opera singer, and prepares for his first concert with Dame Kiri but through his contact with the Te Kanawa Foundation we learn about the wonderful work Dame Kiri and her Foundation are doing with young singers and musicians.