2023: Ragtime (Union Avenue Opera)
 
Eric J. McConnell sings Father.  He, too, appeared in Night Music (as Count Carl Magnus), but his performance as Father could not be further from the ludicrously over-confident count.  He does sensitive work, given that this text allows him to go only from Father-the-clueless to Father-the-simply-bad.  Yet he nicely presents the “weird despair” that Doctorow describes him experiencing as Father’s world falls apart.

-Broadway World                                                                   Full Review

Eric J. McConnell excels as the rigidly focused Father.
                                                                             
-Ladue News                                                                          Full Review
 
2023: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (Opera Saratoga)

Equally hard-working is the bass baritone Eric McConnell who plays, in succession, eight members of a noble family lineage. He fully inhabits each role with an impressive range of voices plus plenty of camp.
                                   
-Albany Times Union                                                            Full Review

The tour de force role of a single actor playing all eight victims is a challenge that Eric McConnell savors. He offers a number of broad portrayals that never fail to garner a laugh. He has a powerful voice and an impressive stage presence.

-The Saratogian
Full Review

2022: A Little Night Music (Union Avenue Opera)

Eric J. McConnell sings the difficult comic "tin-soldier" role of Count Carl-Magnus. He captures the ludicrous melodrama of the count's raging jealousy. Lovely work!

-Broadway World
Full Review

Also terrific is Eric J McConnell, who is wonderful in his UAO debut.

-ReviewSTL
Full Review

Speaking of projection, bass-baritone Eric J. McConnell has ample vocal power as the “pea-brained” Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, whose toxic masculinity is exceeded only by his lack of insight. 

-Stage Left St. Louis
Full Review

Eric J. McConnell mines the comedy in the buffoonish character of the doltish, hypocritical Count.

-Ladue News
Full Review

...along with particularly strong comic turns by McConnell as the boastful, possessive Carl-Magnus...

-Snoop's Theatre Thoughts
Full Review

2022: Le nozze di Figaro (Virginia Opera)

Roadblocks are erected by Marcellina (mezzo-soprano Whitney Robinson) who also longs for him, and her crony Bartolo (bass-baritone Eric J. McConnell). But these two, the consummate comics of the evening, turn out to be Figaro’s long-lost parents. 

-The Virginian Pilot
Full Review

Bass-baritone Eric J. McConnell put a droll, animated spin on Bartolo’s every line.

-Opera News
Full Review

2021: Das Rheingold (Virginia Opera)

Bass-baritone Eric J. McConnell as Donner, god of thunder, gave [a] fine performance, especially considering this was [his] first foray into the Ring.

-OperaGene
Full Review

2020: Stayin' Alive Fall Residency (Virginia Opera)

McConnell, who in addition to a vibrant voice has significant acting chops, portrayed cheerful villainy in “La calunnia” from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

-DC Metro Theater Arts
Full Review

2017: The Tender Land (Northwestern Opera)

Bass-baritone Eric McConnell sang sturdily as the overprotective Grandpa Moss.   

                                                                                                    -Chicago Tribune                                                                      Full Review

2016: Roscoe (Albany Symphony Orchestra)

Standouts included the fiercely accurate bass Eric McConnell as the bee-bopping Elisha. 
                                                                                                    -Albany Times Union                                                              Full Review

2015: Concert (Champaign-Urbana Symphony)

One of the more familiar numbers of the Oratorio, the bass aria from Cantata No. 1, "Great Lord, O Mighty King," was stirringly sung by bass-baritone Eric J. McConnell.                                                                                                                                                                                 -The News-Gazette                                                                  Full Review

2015: Intelligent Systems (SoBe Arts Institute)

This, too, is where the most notable solo singing comes in...McConnell was strong acting-wise, and his forceful bass voice has a lovely lower register.                                                                                                                    -Palm Beach Arts Paper                                                          Full Review

McConnell's power bass-baritone was potently utlized.

-Miami Herald
Full Review

2013: Britten Scenes (Frost Opera Theater)

McConnell’s booming bass-baritone dominated the Moot Hall scene from Britten’s 1945 masterpiece Peter Grimes, an interlude of bright merriment before the impending tragedy.                                                                                                                                                                   -South Florida Classical Review                                            Full Review