Philip Frohnmayer, a singer and Loyola University professor who launched the careers of many operatic stars, died today (Sept. 27), from complications of peritoneal mesothelioma, a form of cancer. He was 66.
A native of Medford, Ore., Mr. Frohnmayer joined the Loyola faculty in 1982 after a successful singing career in Europe and teaching positions at Humboldt State University and the University of Utah. At Loyola, he was the Mary Freeman Wisdom Distinguished Professor of Opera and chairman of vocal studies.
During his years in New Orleans, Mr. Frohnmayer often appeared as a soloist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and in notable roles with the New Orleans Opera. The LPO announced plans to dedicate its Saturday performance to Mr. Frohnmayer’s memory.
“For me, singing is life,” Mr. Frohnmayer said in a 2011 interview -- and everything about his career testified to the accuracy of the statement. His wife, Ellen Frohnmayer, is a professional singer on the Loyola faculty. His daughter, Anne Marie Frohnmayer, pursued a vocal career before taking an administrative position at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
“Phil worked with hundreds of students at Loyola,” Ellen Frohnmayer said. “He loved to sing and he loved to teach singers, and he said the same thing to each of them: ‘Breathe and tell me a story.’ He also had a way of teaching by example. He put on a show for his students, so that they could learn to put on a show for others.”
Mr. Frohnmayer was the kind of teacher who made lifelong friends of his students, often traveling to see them perform as their careers blossomed. His former pupils include international stars such as Alfred Walker, Bryan Hymel and Melody Moore, and respected American singers such as Sarah Jane McMahon, Suzanne DuPlantis and Brandy Lynn Hawkins.
Some of those students returned to New Orleans for a 2011 gala to benefit the Frohnmayer Legacy Scholarship Fund, which was established during the professor’s long battle with abdominal cancer.
Among them was Alfred Walker, a voice that Frohnmayer picked out of the chorus during a Dillard University performance of Handel’s “Messiah.”
“I was a shy kid, so it was startling to have this man telling me that I had a world-class voice, that I ought to come to his studio, that I needed to learn how to sing.” Walker said in a 2011 interview. “As a kid, I walked over crack pipes to get to school. I had seen murders. My father had left my mother — and Phil wanted to know about all of that. He even visited my family on Birch Street. He said that he had to understand me to teach me. And he showed me that I had to draw on my own life experiences and bring those to the stage.”
Frohnmayer continued to work with students right through his final illness.
“I’ve never known anyone quite as strong as Phil Frohnmayer,” said McMahon, a former student who pitched in to help him with lessons in recent months. “He lived for his students and he taught all of us to trust our instincts.”
McMahon, 32, who has sung major roles for the New York City Opera, took her own, final lesson from Mr. Frohnmayer this past week.
Ellen Frohnmayer said that her husband offered other kinds of lessons, too.
“When Phil knew he was sick and had limited time, he decided it was time to take me to Paris and to special places in France. We did it every summer for four years,” Ellen Frohnmayer said. “He cherry-picked life for all kinds of experiences. He did it as a singer. He did it as a listener. And he did it as a beautiful, elegant, totally romantic man.”
Mr. Frohnmayer is survived by his wife, Ellen Phillips Frohnmayer, daughter Anne Marie Frohnmayer, and three siblings: Mira Frohnmayer, David Frohnmayer and John Frohnmayer, all of Oregon.
The memorial service will be Oct. 5 at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1329 Jackson Ave. in New Orleans. Visitation will be held at the church beginning at 9:30 a.m.
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