American conductor Kevin Rhodes has had an exceptionally varied career spanning orchestral concerts, opera and ballet across the globe, having conducted in 15 different countries with approximately 50 different orchestras.

His work extends from the major opera houses of Europe to the concert stages of the US. He has been a presence in the major musical capitols of Europe for over 20 years, with credits including The Paris Opera, The Vienna State Opera, The Berlin State Opera, La Scala of Milan, The Dutch National Ballet, The Verona Ballet, The Stuttgart Ballet, The New York City Ballet and many others, 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.

Rhodes began his European career as a house conductor at the Basel Stadtheater in 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 Magic Flute to Der Rosenkavelier, while at the same time serving as the principal ballet conductor of the Vienna State Opera after 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 total he worked for 10 years exclusively in Europe where he led repertoire ranging from the operas of Richard Strauss,Verdi, Puccini, Massenet, Mozart, Smetena and many others to the major ballets of Prokofiev, Bartok, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.

Since returning to the US in 2001 to take over the leadership of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts and Traverse Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, he has 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 have experienced tremendous growth and enthusiasm about classical music. With the start of the 2010-2011 season, he took the reins as Conductor of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston and has been invigorating that ensemble with his trademark energy. Equally at home in many different genres of music, Rhodes has collaborated in concert with such diverse artists as Andre Watts, Peter Serkin, Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg, Rachel Barton Pine, Matt Haimovitz, Christopher O' Riley, jazz icon, Bob James, folk and pops favorites Judy Collins, Art Garfunkel, B. J. Thomas, Byron Stripling, and many others. In the fall of 2015, he led the SSO in the nationally televised NFL season kickoff game in Boston's Gillette Stadium in a performance with rap artist T-Pain and "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana.

 In addition to leading the concert seasons of the SSO, the TSO and the PACO, the 2016-17 season sees Maestro Rhodes returning to the Paris Opera to lead a triple bill with music of Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and Brahms/Schoenberg in productions by Ballanchine. He also returns to the Vienna State Opera for a major revival of Glazunov's "Raymonda" and the annual Nureyev Gala, a four hour event celebrating the life and career of the famed Russian dancer and choreographer on the occasion of his birthday. Kevin will also make his debut this season with the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo, Norway.

 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. kevinrhodesconductor.com