Testimonials & Reviews continued


As Rigoletto: “A superbly compassionate portrayal that made the hunchback’s torment increasingly poignant and real.” 
Robert Sherman, New York Times

Nottingham, Roberto Devereux: ."“Altogether outstanding.” 
The New Yorker

Enrico, Lucia di Lammermoor: “Fredricks was superb, with an imposing stance and a bracing, true baritone almost clarion in its brilliance.”  New York Times

As Richard Forth, I Puritani: "Only Richard Fredricks, who sang Barnaba, made an attempt at acting. The fine quality of his voice came through strongly  because the role lies securely within his range." Metropolitan Opera on tour: John Quinn, Detroit Free Press

Manon: "Richard Fredricks made a splendid Lescaut, with just the right timbre and sound for Manon's
cousin." Speight Jenkins, New York Post

Recital in Boston: “A voice rich in quality, of considerable range and evenly produced. His diction in all languages was impeccable and the dramatic instinct he infused in many selections provided ample evidence of his effectiveness as a stage personality.” The Christian Science Monitor .

"Man of La Mancha," which is no opera, is memorably sung as if it were one. More impressively, the MOT production is memorably acted, putting the lie to the cynic's suspicion that operatic performers, like the French, do not care what they are mouthing as long as they pronounce it properly ...

So this, the fifth go-around at the Fisher with the unabashedly inspirational "La Mancha" takes on the stature of an event. In MOT's premiere of it, the star is Richard Fredricks, a onetime Metropolitan baritone who has been around just long enough to develop some soul. Fredricks is luminous as the 16thCentyury poet, Cervantes play-acting the addled old knight waggling his crooked lance at the windmills of the Spanish terror...

Fredricks, in a whisper accepts her prompting and begins what a 1987 audience can sing in unison: "... to bear with unbearable sorrow," The stairway descends, Fredricks as Cervantes puts his shoulder back and then comes the moment to wring tears from a stone."
Lawrence DeVine, Drama Critic, Detroit Free Press.

As Germont, La Traviata: Richard Fredricks has become a Verdi baritone to be reckoned with on the highest international level.”  Martin Bernheimer, Los Angeles Times

As Hajj, in Kismet: "Richard Fredricks, he of the Met and several other Casa outings, through the years, is a grand and glorious-voiced Hajj, the public poet of the piece, and he does, indeed soar to those heights on Rhymes Have I, Fate and Gesticulate. In the end, while the songs aren't his, the show belongs to Fredricks' likable and energetic Hajj. He is quite an actor as well as quite a singing star. He brings enthusiasm as well as talent to the starring role. And after nearly 30 year, enthusiasm is just what Kismet needs."  Elston Brookes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

L'Heure Espagnole: “Baritone Richard Fredricks is excellent as Ramiro, the muleteer: tall, lithe, sexy and vocally vibrant.” New York Post

The Unsinkable Molly Brown: "Connie Stevens has an especially suitable Johnny Brown, in Richard Fredricks. An opera singer who's appeared with the Metropolitan and N Y City Operas, Fredricks in the role of Molly's husband, combines his fine voice and acting abilities. In the first act, he sings one of the few pretty songs in the show, I'll Never Say No to You. While as a matrimonial philosophy, it leaves something to be desired, Fredricks' baritone voice, in the tender love ballad, is elegant,"
James Windell, Oakland Fress

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