Kofi's Professional Bio
Kofi Hayford is a prize-winning British Ghanaian-American bass, acclaimed for his “impressive,” “sonorous,” and “stentorian” voice, as well as a distinctive timbre that makes his sound immediately recognizable. He has performed more than 40 operatic roles and appeared in concerts and productions with organizations including the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Fort Worth Opera, Indianapolis Opera, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others.
A double laureate of the 2024 Grand Voix Lyrique d’Afrique International Competition, Hayford made his mainstage Carnegie Hall debut at Stern Hall in May 2024 as the bass soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor. His performances have drawn enthusiastic, sold-out audiences from the Arctic Circle to the Caribbean, and across Europe and Africa. Recent highlights include a six-city concert tour in France; a concert tour of Martinique and another in Canada; appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Auditorium with AfterArts; the bass soloist role in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the United Nations Orchestra; and his Lincoln Center mainstage debut at Alice Tully Hall in September 2025 with the Manhattan Philharmonic Society, performing a major Mandarin-language work centered on the Yellow River.
In 2025 during his French tour, Hayford appeared in concert at Salle Cortot(Paris), Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Opéra Orchestre de Montpellier, and Opéra de Tours. In Martinique, he performed at Tropiques Atrium Scène Nationale, alongside community concerts and educational outreach initiatives also in the spring of 2025.
Hayford holds a Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Buffalo, is the co-founder of the DictionBuddy mobile app, and serves as Chairman of the Board of the Groupmuse Foundation. Upcoming engagements include performances at the 65th Annual Quadrille Ball in February at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, a concert at Opera de Toulouse, as well as his Verdi Requiem debut in Massachusetts in April 2026.
Details on future engagements are available on my Schedule page.
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