Warren Fremling’s Tribute and Biography of American Opera’s Baritone Walter Cassel Soon to Exhibit at the Printers Row Lit Fest 2025

Dr. Warren Fremling is an operatic baritone who has over 50 years of success, having earned degrees from a number of institutions including the American Conservatory of Music. Hes worked with the Chicago Symphony, the Florentine Opera, and various other companies in the Midwest in various starring roles.

However, he owes a lot of his success to his teacher, a man who has actually made quite a mark in the history of American opera but whose gentlemanly demeanor may have cost him the recognition he rightly deserved.

His name was Walter Cassel.

Cassels influence on Fremling was so profound that he decided to write a biography titled Walter Cassel: Warm as the Autumn Light after the former died in 2000. To make more people discover this remarkable baritones legacy in American music, Fremling will have his book exhibited at the Printers Row Lit Fest 2025, which will be held on Sept. 6-7, 2025, at Chicagos Printers Row Park.

Fremling had first heard of Cassels work when he heard the baritones recording of the American opera The Ballad of Baby Doe. What impressed him was Cassels easy use of his voice in conveying the various emotional aspects of the role of Horace Tabor, a role he had created in the premiere.

Around the fall of 1978, Fremling took the chance to be Cassels student, and his personal encounters with him only deepened his admiration. He remained close friends with him all the way till Cassel passed in 2000, at the age of 90.

Walter Cassel: Warm as the Autumn Light lays out all the details of Cassels remarkable career, including the various reasons why he remained outshined by larger names in the business despite his stellar performance and talent. Given the PRLFs own commitment to helping share lesser-known stories, exhibiting the biography there was all the more fitting.

Visitors to this years Printers Row Lit Fest can find Walter Cassel: Warm as the Autumn Light at the exhibit of ReadersMagnet, a self-publishing and book marketing service company,. Purchase a copy today on Amazon.

Walter Cassel: Warm as the Autumn Light
Author: Dr. Warren Fremling
Published date: April 3, 2025
Publisher: Amazon
Genre: Music

Author Bio
Warren Fremling, a native of northern Illinois, holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Northwestern University and the American Conservatory of Music – Chicago. During his 50+ year experience as an operatic baritone, he has appeared in opera with the Chicago Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Opera Theater, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Florentine Opera and regional companies throughout the Midwest. Among his roles he includes Corpo in Emilio de Cavalieris opera, Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo, Figaro in Mozarts Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Alfonso and Guglielmo in Mozarts Cosi fan tutte, Timur in Puccinis Turandot Daniel Webster in Virgil Thomsons The Mother of Us All, and La Boheme, La Traviata, Tales of Hoffman, and La Rondine, to name a few. Still active in oratorio, he counts among his roles, Beethovens Ninth Symphony, Brahms Deutsche Requiem, Handels Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus, Haydns Creation, and Mendelssohns Elijah. Dr. Fremling was recommended for a White House recital during President George H.W. Bushs tenure. An active recitalist, he has upcoming concerts in Indiana, Illinois and Arizona. His recordings have been broadcast over the Air Force Radio Network to an audience of three to five million. He is married to Cynthia, they have two grown children, Matthew and Katie, and twin grandchildren, Ryan and Courtney Brower. He currently resides in Fishers, Indiana.