Richard Fredricks

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Richard Fredricks (born August 15, 1933, in Los Angeles) is an American opera singer and one of the leading dramatic baritones at the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. He also appeared on TV, including NBC’s The Tonight Show and a 1971 episode of The Odd Couple.

Fredricks made his New York City Opera debut on October 1, 1960, as Schaunard in La bohème. He went on to sing many major baritone roles, including The Consul, Le nozze di Figaro (Count Almaviva), The Ballad of Baby Doe (Horace Tabor), Lizzie Borden (world premiere as Captain Jason MacFarlane), Carmen (Escamillo), Tosca (Baron Scarpia, with Plácido Domingo), Cavalleria rusticana (Alfio), Manon (Lescaut, with Beverly Sills), Gianni Schicchi, La traviata (Germont), Lucia di Lammermoor (Enrico), L'heure espagnole (Mulateer), Roberto Devereux (Nottingham), La cenerentola (Dandini), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), Un ballo in maschera (Renato), Maria Stuarda (Talbot), Rigoletto (title role), Don Giovanni (title role), I puritani (Sir Richard Forth), Pagliacci (Tonio), Lucrezia Borgia (Alfonso d'Este), Andrea Chénier (Gerard), Falstaff (Ford) and Attila (Ezio).

His Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1976 at Wolf Trap National Park as Don Carlo in La forza del destino. In 1977 he performed at the Met in La traviata with Rita Shane. His in-house Met roles included Athanael in Thaïs (with Beverly Sills), Don Giovanni, Barnaba in La Gioconda, the Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Escamillo in Carmen, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Ostasio in Francesca da Rimini with Renata Scotto.

Fredricks sang at major theaters across the Americas and in Europe, including Hamburg, Frankfurt, Venice, Israel, Brussels and Mexico. In Canada he performed as Count de Luna in Il trovatore (Montreal), Rigoletto (Toronto and Quebec City), Scarpia in Tosca (Winnipeg) and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Vancouver).

Recordings include The Treasury of Great Operettas, The Tender Land, Lizzie Borden and Duruflé’s Requiem. He directed La bohème for the Michigan Opera and the Duluth Opera, and also sang Lescaut and directed Manon with the Honolulu Opera.

He appeared as himself on The Odd Couple in the November 5, 1971 episode “Does Your Mother Know You’re Out, Rigoletto,” performing selections from La traviata and Camelot’s If Ever I Would Leave You.