Richard Fredricks

American opera singer. Fredricks was one of the leading dramatic baritones of both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He made his debut with the New York City Opera on October 1, 1960 and went on to perform leading baritone roles in performances of [I]The Consul[/I] (with Patricia Neway), [I]Le nozze di Figaro[/I], [I]Lizzie Borden[/I] (in the world premiere of Beeson's opera), [I]Carmen[/I]. [I]Tosca[/I] (with Placido Domingo), Manon (with Beverly Sills, conducted by Julius Rudel), [I]Il barbiere di Siviglia[/I] (Figaro), and many others. He made his first appearance with the Metropolitan Opera in 1976, when they toured to Wolf Trap Farm Park. His in-house debut was as Athanael in [I]Thaïs[/I] (with Beverly Sills), followed by Don Giovanni[/I], [I]La Gioconda[/I], [I]Les contes d'Hoffmann[/I], [I]Madama Butterfly[/I], [I]Francesca da Rimini[/I] with Renata Scotto, and others. Fredricks has appeared at most of the major theatres in the Americas, as well as in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Venice, Israel, Brussels, Mexico and numerous performances in Canada. His recordings include six operettas in “The Treasury of Operetta’s” by RCA Victor, as Top in [I]The Tender Land[/I] (abridged, conducted by the Aaron Copland, 1965), [I]Lizzie Borden[/I] (conducted by Anton Coppola, 1966), and the [I]Duruflé Requiem[/I]. He has stage directed [I]La bohème[/I] with both the Michigan Opera and the Duluth Opera, as well as directing a production of [I]Manon[/I] with the Honolulu Opera while singing the part of Lescaut. He continues to perform and give voice lessons.