Kofi Hayford, CEO & CTO
Founder
In addition to building a career as an accomplished young bass in New York City, Ghanaian-American bass Kofi Hayford, is a successful and experienced Business-to-Business Sales Executive in the technology industry. He brings over 10 years of sales experience and millions of dollars’ in closed transactions under his belt. As a singer, Kofi is described as possessing an “impressive” (Brooklyn Discovery) “sonorous,” (Meet Me at the Opera) and “stentorian bass voice” (National Herald) also produces a distinct sound - easily identified for its unique timbre. He is swiftly building his reputation as an accomplished bass by bringing an ‘exciting’ and ‘stunning’ sound to the stage. Kofi is the 2018 1st Place Winner of the Tchaikovsky Music Competition(Albany, NY), 2017 NJ State Opera Guild Competition Finalist, and a 2007 Songfest Young Artist. He received his Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance from SUNY Buffalo.
Kofi is primarily responsible for sales, marketing, technical, and business development at DictionBuddy.
More Info at: www.KofiHayford.com
Viktoriya Koreneva
founder
Mezzo-soprano Viktoriya (Vita) Koreneva’s charisma and rich, distinctive voice make her the “emotional heartthrob” of the operatic stage. Moving effortlessly between comic and serious, masculine and feminine roles, she has been lauded for her “extraordinarily beautiful voice, the dramatic intensity of which can send chills down your spine.” She is a 2016 winner of the International Lyra New York Competition, the 2015 1st Prize winner of the William Haralson Vocal Competition in New York and finalist in the NJ Verismo Opera competition. She has been recognized by the Russian Cultural Center in Washington, DC for her accomplishments in strengthening Russian-American cultural relations.
In 2019, Vita gave an electrifying performance as Lyubasha in Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov in Maryland after having an overwhelming success just a year earlier singing the role of Lyubava in the US premier of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko. To usher in 2018, she was invited to open Tatiana’s Ball at the Russian Embassy in Washington DC and later had great success singing Adalgisa in NJ Verismo Opera’s production of Norma. She also created the roles of Alkmene and Pythia in the world premiere of the Greek contemporary composer Panagiotis Karousos’ opera Olympic Flame at Lincoln Center, for which she was praised for her “amazing performance” and “deep and distinguished” voice - receiving a UNESCO Honorary Award. A frequent soloist on the concert stage, Ms. Koreneva has been featured in oratorio, concerts, recitals and festivals with the Westchester Chorale (Vivaldi s Gloria), Richmond County Orchestra (Carmen), the United Nations Orchestra (Mozart’s Requiem), New York Session Symphony Orchestra (Mahler’s excerpts), Washington National Cathedral Choral Society (Rachmaninoff ‘s All-Night Vigil /Solemn Vespers, Taneyev’s John of Damascus, and Gretchaninoff’s Praise the Lord). In addition to all this, she has an MBA in Finance and is a former Wall Street Executive. Ms. Koreneva is finishing her Music Composition degree for Film, TV and Games at Berklee School of Music and is a member of the ‘Society of Composers & Lyricists’ and ‘The Alliance for Women Film Composers.’
In addition to all these incredible accomplishments, Vita recorded a majority of the audio tracks for our Russian titles and completed all the transliterations and translations for the Russian library
More information at: www.vitakmusic.com
Emma Lavandier, Chief Operating Officer
Founder
Mezzo-soprano Emma Lavandier serves as a voice teacher and diction coach in New Jersey, specializing in French diction, her native language. Hailed for her “excellent voice and spot-on performance” (Huffington Post), her “bright sound and affecting delivery,” and for delivering a “captivating performance” (Voce di Meche), she is a First Place Winner at the NJNATS Festival of Singing Competition and a finalist in the Lyra 2018 International Vocal Competition (Opera Division). A former executive in the personal care industry, she developed skills in overseeing the launch of hundreds of products worldwide. In this capacity, she became an expert in assessing competitive landscape, understanding consumers insight, developing an innovation portfolio and tracking the steps of major international launches. Emma holds a Master’s Degree in Biochemistry and a Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance. Her dual training coupled with her experience in academia and on stage as a performing artist makes her the perfect choice to oversee the Operations at DictionBuddy.
In addition to being a wonderful mezzo soprano, Emma also handled all of our French tracks, French and Italian translations and IPA.
Learn more about Emma at: Emma Lavandier's Website
