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, in 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.