Biography 2007
RICHARD FREDRICKS
Richard Fredricks, former Principal Baritone with the
Metropolitan Opera, is recognized as one of today's finest
singing actors. At the Metropolitan, he debuted as Don
Carlo, i n
La Forza dell Destino, sang the title role in Don Giovanni,
Barnaba in La Gioconda, Athanael in Thais, the Four Villains
in Les Contes D'Hoffmann and others. His debut in opera
was with the New York City Opera and, among the more than 40
leading roles sung with this company, are in the operas
Rigoletto, I Puritani, Un Ballo in Maschera, Roberto Devereux,
Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Attila, Andrea Chenier and Lucia di
Lammermoor. His appearances in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Venice,
Israel, Brussels, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, South Africa and
Taiwan, as well as with most of the major companies in the U.
S. and Canada, attest to his versatility. During his
peripatetic career, he has performed in Night Clubs, plays, in
Reviews and has sung in over a score of Operettas and
Musicals, as well. These include the leading roles in
Kiss Me Kate, Molly Brown, Man of La Mancha, Kismet, ShowBoat,
"1776," Merry Widow, Music Man, Carousel, Annie Get Your Gun,
Desert Song, Bells Are Ringing, Naughty Marietta,
Camelot, Carousel, Die Fledermaus, Carnival and others.
Mr. Fredricks has been a guest soloist with most of the major
symphony orchestras in America and is highly esteemed as a
recitalist. He sang the first telecast of the
prestigious Live from Lincoln Center series, as Horace Tabor
in The Ballad of Baby Doe, as well as in subsequent telecasts
of Roberto Devereux, La Traviata, Manon, Lizzie Borden. in
Canada, he sang Conte De Luna, in the Opera de Montreal
production of Il Trovatore and Alfio in Cavalleria id
Rusticana Rigoletto in Toronto. He was a frequent guest on the
Merv Griffin Show, The Dinah Shore Show, The Tonight Show,
with Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett Show, Mike Douglas Show, and
starred as himself, in a special Odd Couple segment, with Jack
Klugman and Tony Randall.
In addition to his more than a dozen appearances, at the
Hollywood Bowl, with Johnny Green, they performed Pop and
Classical Concerts throughout the country and Israel. Mr.
Fredricks appeared in televised performances with the Boston
Pops on evenings of Lerner and Loewe and Cole Porter. His
four Live from Lincoln Center and WolfTrap performances of
"La Traviata", "Roberto Devereux", "The Ballad of Baby Doe" and
"Manon," are available on video. He also created the role of
Captain Jason McFarland, in the world premier and subsequent
televised performance of "Lizzie Borden." Mr. Fredricks is
an artist whose vocal endowments are matched by his theatrical
sensitivity and dynamic stage personality.
Pat Boone writes, "How would you like to have Michael Jordan
give you some tips on basketball? That's what I feel happened
with me when I asked Richard Fredricks to help me get back on
track," says the pop icon. "Through years of increasingly bad
vocal habits, terrible sound systems and road weariness, I was
beginning to think I had 'lost' it. After just one or two
sessions with this master teacher, I had regained my confidence,
and have been regaining the ease and expertise I had enjoyed for
years. Richard knows, he can teach it, and he cares. I can't
imagine a better combination."
In addition to his many singing venues, Mr. Fredricks has
enjoyed his directorial assignments having directed the Massenet,
Manon, for the Honolulu Opera, The Young Lord, with
Houston Grand Opera, in which he also sang the leading role of
the Secretary; The Marriage of Figaro (by proxy) and sang the
role of Figaro, TRUK Opera, Pretoria, South Africa; directed two productions of
La Boheme, at The Michigan Opera, The Duluth Opera.
Last
May, Mr. Fredricks was the featured soloist, at a Dorothy
Chandler Pavilion presented by the L. A. Jr. Philharmonic
Orchestra,
singing the Academy Award winning song, Exodus, lyrics by Pat
Boone, .in the event honoring Pat's Fifty Years in Show
Business. Pat joined him for the last rousing chorus.
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