Warren Fremling
Baritone
Warren Fremling was a Chramer scholar at Northwestern University, a four-time Metropolitan Opera regional finalist, and finished fourth in the nation in a national singing competition sponsored by the National Society of Arts and Letters. He has appeared in opera, oratorio and concert since 1965, as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Upon graduation in 1969, Mr. Fremling continued his pursuit of classical singing, appearing in opera as a guest artist at colleges and universities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including the University of Pittsburgh, Clarion University, Youngstown State University, Oberlin and The Ohio State University.
While pursuing his Masters of Music degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, Mr. Fremling became a founding member of the Chicago Opera Theater, debuted with the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Opera Festival. At the composer’s request, he prepared a private recording of both sets of folk song arrangements for the late Aaron Copland.
In addition to the Chicago Opera Theater, he has appeared with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Florentine Opera, with the Milwaukee Symphony and twice on National Educational Television, once as Ford in Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and as Daniel Webster in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All.
His recordings have been broadcast over the Air Force Radio Network to a listenership of 3 to 5 million. In 1990, he was recommended for a White House recital by Democratic Senator Paul Simon and Republican Congressman John Porter. It was, however, a near miss – George Bush wasn’t re-elected!
An active choral director and voice teacher, for 40 years he built and developed choral music departments in churches, synagogues and schools in the northern suburbs of Illinois. He maintained a vocal studio with students appearing on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera, and A Chorus Line, and in musical theater and opera with regional companies.
Mr. Fremling has toured Ohio, Michigan and Indiana in musical theater as well, appearing in leading roles in musicals by Jones and Schmidt, Lerner and Loewe, and Rogers and Hammerstein, among others. He recently participated in a recital to benefit the people of Ukraine.
In addition to the undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he holds a Masters in Music from Northwestern University, and a Doctorate from the American Conservatory of Music.
