Ken Wakia founded and directed both the Nairobi Chamber Chorus and Safaricom Choir in Kenya, leading them for 17 and 13 years respectively. Under his leadership, the Nairobi Chamber Chorus represented Kenya at events around the world, including at the Queen of England’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations at Windsor Castle in 2012 and at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National conference in Kansas City in 2019. He is the 2019 African Image Maker Award recipient conferred by the Voice Achievers Award International.
Ken started his conducting career at Kenyatta University in Nairobi and later studied Choral Directing at the University of Miami in Florida, USA, as a Fulbright scholar.

A strong believer in the power of choral music to bring people together for a peaceful coexistence, Ken is known for leading several initiatives and collaborations to connect Kenyan choral musicians with the world. Ken is a co-founder of AVoice4Peace project and the Kenya Choral Directors trust. He is also on the international committee of the Africa Cantat that organized the second and third Africa Cantat Festivals in Kenya (online 2020) and Cameroon (2023).

Ken has been a visiting conductor with choirs at home and around the world. He has led workshops on African choral music for the Europa Cantat in Estonia, Germany and Belgium between 2008 and 2023, for the British National Choral Charity – Sing for Pleasure in the UK, and as a conductor of the World Youth Choir in their tour of Hungary and the Balkan states in 2017. In early 2020, he conducted the International Schools of Southern and Eastern Africa in Zambia.

A multi-talented individual, Ken worked for over 10 years as the Education and Cultural Affairs Specialist at the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi.