Jonathan Rhodes Tenor
A native of Orlando, Florida, tenor Jonathan Pierce Rhodes returns to the Washington National Opera for the 2023-2024 season as a Cafritz Young Artist where he will perform the Cleric/Clergy in Songbird, The Hippo/Holy Man/Dog/Water Seller in The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me, and Pong in Turandot. Last season he made his WNO debut as Frank in The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson as well as Policeman 2 in Blue. Pierce holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester. He recently graduated with a master’s in Opera Performance from Rice University, under the guidance of Nova Thomas. This summer, Pierce is slated to make his second appearance at the Glimmerglass festival as a Young Artist for the 2022 season where he will reprise his role of Frank in The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson, cover Le Remendado in Carmen directed by Denyce Graves, and premier the role of Cherubiel in The Glimmerglass Festival’s new opera Holy Ground. During his studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, he performed the role of Der Harlekin in Der Kaiser von Atlantis as well as covered Don Ottavio in their production of Don Giovanni. Pierce has received numerous prizes including an encouragement award at the Houston District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, a 1st prize Neva Pilgrim Award in the Civic Morning Musicals Competition and is the previous recipient of the William Warfield Scholarship Award.