Cynthia O'Connell

Cynthia O'Connell has a bachelor of music degree in music education and a master or music in vocal performance from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She has further studied with Marianne Challis in New York City on the belt technique.

She had a private voice studio in San Francisco prior to 1998 and was a vocal coach for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Since 1998, O’Connell has been a lecturer of voice at BW and has a private studio in her home in Shaker Heights.

O'Connell was understudy for Pamela Myers in “Sondheim on Sondheim,” a co-production of Playhouse Square and Great Lakes Theater, in summer 2012. She has appeared with Bill Rudman’s The Music Theater Project in “The Making of ‘Carousel’” (Nettie) and “Vocal Minority: The Amazing Female Songwriters.” She sang the role of Meg in Cain Park’s “Damn Yankees.” Her cabaret performances at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights and regionally include “A Soprano in Love,” “So in Love,” “Bosom Buddies,” “Divas Duet,” “Simply Cynthia” and her newest, “Something Wonderful.” She is temple soloist at Tiffereth Israel, Cleveland, and has been soprano soloist at Trinity Cathedral and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. She has performed with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Opera Theater. O’Connell was an American Guild of Musical Artists member of the Grammy-winning San Francisco Symphony Chorus. She was the vocal coach for the Ohio premieres of “Bat Boy” and “Avenue X.”

O'Connell's BW graduates and private students have appeared on Broadway and London’s West End; on national and international tours; on Disney cruises; in productions at Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Regional Theater; and on television and voice-overs. A partial list of shows in which her former students have performed include “Rebecca,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Peter and the Starcatcher,” “Lysistrata Jones,” “Mamma Mia,” “Wicked,” “The Woman in White,” “The 39 Steps,” “Curtains,” “Les Miserables,” “A Little Night Music,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Gone with the Wind,” and “Lord of the Rings: The Musical,” to name a few.

O'Connell is a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. In addition to teaching voice, also teaches phonetics for all voice primaries.