About Margaret O’Connell
Mezzo soprano Margaret O’Connell (Maggie) enjoys a versatile career in opera, contemporary classical music, musical comedy, oratorio, and recording.
In 2024, Berlin audiences saw Margaret’s role debut as Klytämnestra in Elektra with Dramatic Voices Program Berlin, conducted by Deutsche Oper Berlin’s Elda Laro. She also appeared as Fricka in their production of Das Rheingold.
She portrayed a “fiercely committed” (ZEALnyc) Older Alyce in an acclaimed, sold-out production of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied with New York OperaFest. She made her Carnegie Hall debut under the baton of Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra in Strauss’s Feuersnot.
Other favorite roles performed include the title role in Carmen, Olga in Eugene Onegin, Dulcinée in Don Quichotte, Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Adalgisa in Norma, Florence in Albert Herring, and the eponymous Dido and Aeneas.
Roles in preparation include Amneris in Aida, Fricka in Die Walküre, Erda in Das Rheingold, Mutter in Hänsel und Gretel, and Jocasta in Oedipus Rex.
In the musical theater arena, Maggie has appeared as Martha in The Secret Garden with the MIT Players, and Singer / Fiddler Jones in Spoon River Anthology with Musical Theatre Works (NYC). Off-Broadway credits include Young Jennie in Portrait of Jennie (with Brent Barrett) and Gabriella Winterova in Michael Slade’s play Children of Terezin. She also appeared with Victor Trent Cook in the Disney Channel musical film Starlight. She portrayed a singing and dancing staff-wielding Greek Elder in Michael Sirotta’s musical adaptation of Agamemnon at the La Mama Theater Club.
Maggie also has numerous concert credits to her name. She covered the Mezzo Soloist in Dvorak’s Requiem with the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein. A partial list of other sacred works performed include mezzo solos in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Duruflé’s Requiem, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (cover).
Ms. O’Connell sang with Maestro Alexander Frey in his premiere CD of Bernstein’s Peter Pan (Koch International Classics). Her commercial recording of Randall Snyder’s Traveling West with Maestro Max Lifschutz (North / South label) was praised by Fanfare Magazine.
Margaret has many premieres to her credit. Working with Michael Ching, she created the role of Margaret Krusemark in J. Mark Scearce’s Falling Angel at the Center for Contemporary Opera, and premiered excerpts from Mr. Ching’s Speed Dating Tonight! with the composer at the piano. She originated the role of Ashley in Best Friends by Wendy Wasserstein, opposite Lauren Flanigan. She premiered roles in two operas by Ray Luedeke: Matilda Urrutia in My Life with Pablo Neruda, and Anna in A Doll’s House.
Some prominent companies with whom Maggie has been featured include the Bard Festival (with Maestro Botstein), Songfest (with John Harbison and Martin Katz), Center for Contemporary Opera, La Mama Theater in New York City, and American Opera Projects
She has won fellowships, grants, and scholarships from the Aspen Music Festival, Oberlin College, the St. David’s Society of New York, Songfest, and the Musical Club of Westfield (NJ). She was a Dean’s Scholar at Oberlin College Conservatory and a prize winner in the Kosciuszko Foundation Marcella Sembrich Competition.
Margaret holds a Master of Music in Solo Voice from McGill University, and a Bachelor of Music in Violin and Voice Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
