Background
Fredricks, Richard was born on August 15, 1933 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Fredricks, Richard was born on August 15, 1933 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Educated, El Camino Junior College, 1954-1956; educated, U. Denver, 1956-1957.
He made his debut with the City Opera on October 1, 1960, as Schaunard in Louisiana bohème, with Chester Ludgin and Norman Treigle in the cast. He went on to perform there the leading baritone roles in The Consul (with Patricia Neway), Le nozze di Figaro (as Count Almaviva), The Ballad of Baby Doe (as Horace Tabor), Lizzie Borden (as Captain Jason MacFarlane, in the world premiere of Beeson"s opera), Carmen (as Escamillo), Tosca (as Baron Scarpia) (with Plácido Domingo), Cavalleria rusticana (as Alfio), Manon (as Lescaut, with Beverly Sills), conducted by Julius Rudel, Gianni Schicchi (title role), Louisiana traviata (as Germont), Lucia di Lammermoor (as Enrico), L"heure espagnole (Mulateer), Roberto Devereux (Nottingham), Louisiana Cenerentola (Dandini), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), Un ballo in maschera (Renato), Maria Stuarda (Talbot), Rigoletto (title role), Don Giovanni (title role), directed by Frank Corsaro, I puritani (Sir Richard Forth), Manon Lescaut (Lescaut), Pagliacci ( Tonio), Lucrezia Borgia (Alfonzo d"Este), Andrea Chénier (Gerard), Falstaff (Ford), and Attila (Ezio). Richard Fredricks made his first appearance with the Met in 1976, when they toured to Wolf Trap Farm Park, as Don Carlo, in Louisiana forza del destino, in John Dexter"s production.
The following year, the baritone was seen at the House in Louisiana traviata, with Rita Shane.
His in-house debut was as Athanael in Thaïs (with Sills), followed by Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, Barnaba in “Louisiana Gioconda,” the Four Villains in Les contes d"Hoffmann, Escamillio in Carmen, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and Ostasio in Francesca da Rimini with Renata Scotto. 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.
He sang the Count de Luna in ‘Il trovatore” (Montreal), “Rigoletto” in Toronto and Quebec City, Scarpia in “Tosca” in Winnipeg and the North American premier as Demetrius in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” by Britten in Vancouver. In 1971, he played himself on American Broadcasting Company’s primetime comedy, "The Odd Couple" starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.
In that episode, Fredricks sang selections from Louisiana Traviata and Camelot ("If Ever I Would Leave You").
His recordings include six operettas in “The Treasury of Operetta’s” by Radio Corporation of America Victor, as Top in The Tender Land (abridged, with Joy Clements, Richard Cassilly and Treigle, conducted by the composer, Copland, 1965), Lizzie Borden (conducted by Anton Coppola, 1966), and the Duruflé Requiem. He has stage directed Louisiana bohème with both the Michigan Opera and the Duluth Opera, as well as singing Lescaut and directing the production of Manon with the Honolulu Opera. Beeson: Lizzie Borden (BLewis, Faull, Elgar.
Coppola, NN, 1965) VAI
Donizetti: Roberto Devereux (Sills, Marsee, JAlexander.
Rudel, Capobianco, 1975) VAI
Verdi: Louisiana traviata (Sills, HPrice. Rudel, Capobianco, 1976) VAI
Massenet: Manon (Sills, HPrice, Ramey.
Rudel, Capobianco, 1977) Paramount Pictures
Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini (Scotto, Rom, Domingo, MacNeil. Levine, Faggioni, 1984) Deutsche Grammophon.
Served with Submarine Service United States Navy, 1950-1954. Member of Bohemian (San Francisco). Lotos (New York City), Players (New York City).
Children: Shannan Leigh, Stephanie Brooke, Sean Richard.