Lyric coloratura soprano Abigail Raiford has earned acclaim for her “powerful, luxurious soprano voice” and her “wonderfully comic” portrayal of Elvira in Tulsa Opera’s production of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri.

In 2025, Abigail was a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and won First place and Audience Favorite in the D’Angelo Young Artist Vocal Competition at Opera Tampa. She won 2nd prize in the coveted Jensen Competition, 4th in the celebrated Giulio Gari competition and made her Carnegie Hall debut with Manhattan Concert Productions as soprano soloist in Taylor Scott Davis’ Magnificat. Abigail was featured as Artist of the Month in Musical America’s April 2025 edition. The busy soprano joins Teatro Nuovo as Lisa in La sonnambula, makes a role and company debut as Julie Jordan in Carousel with the Will Rogers Stage Foundation, and debuts as The Farmer in The Seasons with Opera Philadelphia. In 2026, she sings Carmina Burana with the York Symphony Orchestra and proudly returns to Tulsa Opera for the prestigious Three Tulsa Sopranos President’s Council event.

In 2024, Abigail won 1st Place in the Artist Division of the Camille Coloratura Awards and was awarded the Charles Maggio Award at the Shreveport Vocal Competition. Engagements included performances of Fauré’s Requiem at David Geffen Hall with Manhattan Concert Productions, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang with the York Symphony, and Narcissa in Haydn’s Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth and a role and company debut with Teatro Nuovo as the Giulietta cover in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. She joined the Glacier Symphony for Handel’s Messiah in December.

In 2023, she was a District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Tulsa District), received an Incentive Award from the SAS Performing Arts Company Vocal Competition, and became a finalist in the Emerging Artist Division of the MI Opera Vocal Competition.

In previous seasons, Abigail joined Central City Opera as a Bonfils-Stanton studio artist, performing leading roles in Heggie’s Two Remain (Krysia) and Die Fledermaus (Ida), and receiving the esteemed Central City Opera Guild’s McGlone Award. She was also a resident and apprentice artist for multiple seasons with Sarasota Opera, where she was heard as Second Witch in Dido & Aeneas and Belinda in family performances.

Abigail has won numerous competitions, including 2nd Prize in the 2021 SAS Performing Arts Company Vocal Competition, and Encouragement Awards in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition and the Student Division of the inaugural Camille Coloratura Awards. She was also a grant recipient from The Career Bridges Foundation.

As a noted interpreter of Mozart’s operas, Abigail’s signature roles include the Queen of the Night and First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Despina in Così fan tutte. Other credits include Rose Maurrant in Street Scene, Anicasia in La Dolorosa, and Yum- Yum in The Mikado, and Olympia in Pinocchio.

Abigail has also thrilled audiences on the concert stage in performances of Milhaud’s Chansons de Ronsard with the Mannes Orchestra and John Mackey’s Songs From the End of the World with the University of Tulsa Wind Ensemble. Her most recent concert appearances were with the Handel Choir of Baltimore as the soprano soloist in Messiah and with Emory University in Orff’s Carmina Burana.

She earned her Master of Music degree from the Mannes School of Music under the tutelage of Amy Burton, and her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Tulsa, where she studied with her mother, Judith Pannill Raiford.