Eric J. McConnell, bass-baritone

Denver native Eric J. McConnell, bass-baritone is quickly garnering acclaim in the American opera and musical theatre communities for his distinctive dramatic voice and theatrical, performative style. Highlights of his 2025-2026 season include a company debut with Painted Sky Opera in his second outing as the Sodbuster in Missy Mazzoli's haunting American masterpiece Proving Up and a return to the razor's edge in the title role of Sweeney Todd in a semi-staged production with the Colorado Springs Chorale. He then dives back into the world of 21st-century American opera--and Victorian serial killers--as John Cree in Elizabeth Cree for Opera Today's inaugural season.

Previous seasons have seen professional debuts with Opera Saratoga as the D'Ysquith Family in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder; Sarasota Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni, Shreveport Opera as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte; Virginia Opera as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, Donner in Das Rheingold, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, and Colline in La bohème; Opera Fort Colllins as Olin Blitch in Susannah and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro; Opera San Luis Obispo as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast; Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre as Betto in Gianni Schicchi/Buoso's Ghost and Orin Scrivello, DDS in Little Shop of Horrors; Union Avenue Opera as Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music, Father in Ragtime, and the Wolf in Into the Woods; the Greenhouse Cabaret as the title character in Sweeney Todd; Opera Colorado as Figaro/Antonio in The Marriange of Figaro, Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, and Dr. Grenvil in La Traviata; Vegas City Opera as the Vicomte de Valmont in The Dangerous LIaisons; Central City Opera as Ceprano in Rigoletto, William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro,; the Aspen Music Festival as the Sodbuster in Proving Up; Breckenridge Backstage Theatre as Inspector Kemp in Young Frankenstein; the Albany Symphony Orchestra as Elisha Fitzgibbon in Roscoe; the Missouri Symphony/Landlocked Opera as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro; Bel Cantanti Opera as Escamillo in Carmen; and the Suncoast Broadway Dinner Theatre as Bob Wallace in White Christmas.

McConnell is a two-time regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and has placed several times in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild's annual competition. He holds a master's degree from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree form the University of Miami. McConnell is an Eagle Scout, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and a zealous collector of rubber ducks. He is also a writer of dystopian fiction--his debut novel, Mall, and its sequels, Park and Ship, are available at all major online book retailers.