Walter Fredericks

Walter Fredericks (April 16, 1916 – July 24, 2000) was an American operatic tenor and concert singer active from the late 1940s until at least the 1980s.

Biography A native of Camden, New Jersey, Fredericks worked as a machinist before friends encouraged him to audition for the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where he won a scholarship. While traveling with the Ice Follies, he started his operatic career in 1947, performing with the San Francisco Opera. Soon maestro Gaetano Merola of the SFO convinced patrons to award the singer with a year of additional study in Italy. He had also been a guest soloist of many of symphony orchestras throughout the U.S. and made radio, television, and motion picture appearances. Minneapolis , Detroit and Dearborn, Kansas City, Tucson, and many cities in California, and toured to Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America. Fredericks started the annual Christmas Carolfest on the Music Pier in Ocean City, New Jersey, in the mid-1970s and directed it for several years until his death.