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. He’s 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.

Cassel’s 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 baritone’s 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 Chicago’s Printers Row Park.

Fremling had first heard of Cassel’s work when he heard the baritone’s recording of the American opera “The Ballad of Baby Doe.” What impressed him was Cassel’s 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 Cassel’s 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 Cassel’s remarkable career, including the various reasons why he remained outshined by larger names in the business despite his stellar performance and talent. Given the PRLF’s own commitment to helping share lesser-known stories, exhibiting the biography there was all the more fitting.

Visitors to this year’s 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’ Cavalieri’s opera, Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo, “Figaro” in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, “Don Alfonso” and “Guglielmo” in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, “Timur” in Puccini’s Turandot “Daniel Webster” in Virgil Thomson’s 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, Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony,” Brahm’s “Deutsche Requiem,” Handel’s “Messiah” and “Judas Maccabaeus,” Haydn’s “Creation,” and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah.” Dr. Fremling was recommended for a White House recital during President George H.W. Bush’s 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.

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