Okafor ’17 Makes Lincoln Center Debut in New Opera with MasterVoices

Soprano Victoria Okafor ’17 made her Lincoln Center debut earlier this month while performing the role of Alesha in the new American opera, “Blind Justice,” presented by MasterVoices. The production follows the Ohio Innocence Project’s efforts to overturn the convictions of six men, women, and teens who were wrongly imprisoned for violent crimes they didn’t commit.

Okafor has sung all over the country with companies like Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Birmingham, and Cincinnati Opera. Role highlights include Despina in “Così fan tutte,” Wilhelmina in “Castor and Patience” and Laura in “The Hours.” Premiering at the Met in 2023, with Kelli O’Hara in the role of Laura, Okafor covered O’Hara in Philadelphia for the concert version in 2022. Okafor is a classic film fan and you can find her on Instagram for her song series, “Songs from Old Movie Musicals that are Stuck in My Head.” Theater credits include Nehebka (“Elton John’s Aida,” Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre), Strawberry Seller (“Oliver!,” Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre), Janelle (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” The Carnegie). Upcoming roles include Kate Mullins (“Titanic,” Marriott Theatre).

Okafor, the Kurt Weill/Lotte Lenya Artist of this production, is a prizewinner of the 2021 Lotte Lenya Competition. The Kurt Weill/Lotte Lenya Artist is selected from previous or current finalists of the annual Lotte Lenya Competition, an international theater singing competition founded in 1998 by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music to encourage idiomatic performances of a wide range of musical theater and opera.