Victoria Okafor

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Artist Bio

Praised for her silvery-voiced soprano… (Seen and Heard International), Victoria Okafor is steadily making a name for herself in the world of musical theatre and opera. She has sung with companies such as Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Birmingham, and Opera Columbus. Ms. Okafor’s 2022-23 season includes performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, followed by performances of Clorinda in La Cenerentola with Kentucky Opera.

In 2022, Ms. Okafor had a full season with 2 role debuts, concert and recital engagements. She was set to perform as Laura in a workshop of The Hours with The Metropolitan Opera, which was canceled due to COVID-19. However, Ms. Okafor was able to revisit the role of Laura again when she covered Kelli O’Hara in the concert version of The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of world-renowned conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Ms. Okafor also premiered the role of Wilhelmina in Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s new opera Castor and Patience. 

One of the highlights of Ms. Okafor’s 2021 season was placing second in the prestigious Lotte Lenya Competition. The finals took place in New York city after the cancellation of the competition in 2020 due to COVID-19. Ms. Okafor also had the opportunity to return to her alma mater, Shenandoah Conservatory, to perform Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Shenandoah Symphony as well as William Grant Still’s From the Hearts of Women.

Ms. Okafor’s 2020 season would have included performances as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte with Cincinnati Conservatory Music Opera and covering the same role with Santa Fe Opera, both of which were cancelled due to COVID. However, during the height of the pandemic, Ms. Okafor enjoyed being a part of numerous projects like Angela Brown’s Opera From A Sistah’s Point Of View, Mozart Requiem with the Kentucky Symphony, and performing in Cincinnati Opera at 100 with Cincinnati Opera. She also competed in the Kentucky District for the Metropolitan National Council Competition and received an encouragement award.

Ms. Okafor’s 2019 season included her debut with Cincinnati Opera as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro followed by the role of Alesha in the new opera Blind Injustice. The role of Alesha was created by Ms. Okafor during the opera’s original workshop at Cincinnati Opera. She has also originated the roles of Wilhelmina in Gregory Spears’s Castor and Patience, Nyomi in William Menefield’s Fierce, and Laura in Kevin Puts’s The Hours. 

Ms. Okafor is a native to the DC/Maryland area and holds degrees from Shenandoah Conservatory and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with a BM in voice performance, an MM in voice performance, and an AD in opera performance.

Updated November 1, 2022

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