International stage director and champion of American Opera, Rhodes staged the world premiere of Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe for San Francisco Opera, Virgil Thomson’s Lord Byron at Alice Tully Hall, Charles Fussell’s The Astronaut’s Tale at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM Fisher), and new operas at Pittsburgh Opera Theatre and Waterbury Symphony. Internationally, she directed Death in Venice (Stockholm), Carmen (Oslo), Happy End (Finland), Kiss Me Kate (Ankara, filmed for TV) and West Side Story (Istanbul) for the Turkish State Theatre, and Eccentrics, Outcasts and Visionaries: A Century of American Opera for the Holland Festival (Amsterdam).
At Encompass she staged over 65 operas, including her award-winning production of Virgil Thomson/Gertrude Stein’s The Mother of Us All, Blitzstein’s Regina, Britten’s Phaedra, and the American premiere of George Antheil’s jazz opera, Transatlantic. She co-conceived/directed Only Heaven by composer Ricky Ian Gordon, based on poetry by Langston Hughes; directed Angel of the Amazon by Evan Mack; and her acclaimed production of Grigori Frid’s opera The Diary of Anne Frank was nominated for an Artistic Achievement Award by Northern Ohio Live and played to over four thousand people on tour at Cleveland Opera.
As Vice President/U.S.A. Delegate to the International Theatre Institute, Rhodes conducted workshops and served as guest speaker in Argentina, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Holland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Russia, and Venezuela. She was invited to direct the first American musicals ever staged in the country of Albania at the National Opera House and filmed for television.
Her world premiere stage production of Anna Christie in 2018, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Eugene O’Neill, was released on CD by Broadway Records in 2019. She is currently the commissioned librettist of The Theory of Everything, with composer John David Earnest, a new opera inspired by physics’ superstring theory of multiple dimensions and alternate universes.
She launched Paradigm Shifts, Music and Film Festival, dedicated to celebrating courageous people around the world who are preserving our planet, oceans, wildlife, and sacred lands. With the mission of bridging indigenous cultures, women’s wisdom, and environmental/social justice issues, Encompass Paradigm Shifts was hosted in Seoul, South Korea in 2017.
She served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music for twelve years and taught master classes at the Curtis Institute of Music, the University of the Theatre of Nations, and Peabody Institute. She holds an MFA from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.
Nancy Rhodes is also the author of Mary’s Story, published by Sunbury Press in 2023. While sitting alone in the house of Mary, Mother of Jesus, in Ephesus, Turkey, Nancy Rhodes had an overpowering spiritual experience. Images of Mary’s life flashed rapidly through her mind, and she was overwhelmed with emotion. Her heart opened to Mary's words. She spoke to Nancy. “Tell my story.”
Over the following decade Nancy continued to receive her words. Mary revealed the untold story of her life, the obstacles and turning points she faced: a lonely childhood where nature was often her only solace; a horrible beating by her father; Joseph’s devotion preventing her from certain death and later, when their village was torched by the Roman soldiers, it was Joseph’s quick-thinking courage that saved Mary and the children.
In sharing her story, Mary today speaks to people who are facing loneliness, fear, and loss. She tenderly assures us of the healing light of love.
