Centre Symphony Orchestra
Scott Jackson Wiley, Conductor
Veronica Mak, Soprano

Suggested donation $20. Online box office opens six weeks before the concert.

Kodai Speich World Premiere TBA
Veronica Mak, Soprano

Samuel Barber Summer of 1915
Veronica Mak, Soprano

Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 2, D Major, Opus 43

Suggested donation $20. Tickets will be available online six weeks before the concert.

Veronica Mak is a Chinese-American soprano based in New York City, equally at home in operatic, choral, and contemporary repertoire. Her artistry is marked by versatility, emotional nuance, and a deep commitment to expressive storytelling.

She began her 2025/2026 season producing a recital series with pianist Shaobai Yuan called In Bloom and In Twilight.  She also made her choral debut with Ghostlight Chorus last November for their program, Blessed. Veronica was featured last in Regina Opera's productions of Suor Angelica as Suor Genovieffa and Carmen as Frasquita. Additional performances this season include Mozart's C Minor Mass as a Chorus Fellow with Spoleto Festival USA, a featured recital with Delaware Valley Opera, and Papagena for their company's production of The Magic Flute. 

Ms. Mak's additional previous operatic roles include Pamina from The Magic Flute. Laetitiafrom The Old Maid and the Thief, Monica from the Medium, Lauretta from Gianni Schicchi, Bastienne from Bastien und Bastienne, Pyg from Knightly News, the title role of L’enfant et les sortilèges, and Nancy from Albert Herring. Veronica was recognized from her performance of Rigoletto as Gilda with Regina Opera, having "appeared to inhabit the character believably" (Opera Wire). 

Kodai Speich is a composer hailing from Rockford, Illinois. Influenced by late romantics such as Mahler and Rachmaninoff as well as 20th century modernists such as Shostakovich and Ravel, Speich attempts to blend the spirit of older music with a 21st century sound. He studied compositon with Connor Way, and was an active member of the Princeton Undergraduate Composers Collective. Speich’s musical journey began at age 2, when he began learning the piano; he later took up the violin at age 5. Currently, he plays violin in the Centre Symphony Orchestra. A recent graduate of Princeton University, Speich studied physics, with a minor in music and a certificate in applied and computational mathematics.

Centre Symphony Orchestra
Scott Jackson Wiley, Conductor
Veronica Carpenter, Violin

Suggested donation $20. Online box office opens six weeks before the concert.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Overture to Die Zauberflöte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Concerto for Violin, No. 4, K.218 in D Major
‍ ‍Veronica Carpenter, Violin

Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3, F Major, Opus 90

Veronica Carpenter is an impassioned violinist and music educator based in New York City. She has performed with such ensembles as the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and has shared the stage with musical greats Andrea Bocelli, Rachel Barton Pine, and Chris Thile. Her musical interests are broad, and career highlights include touring with a Boston-based Irish band and collaborations with composers to develop new works for violin and for string quartet.

In addition to her role at Centre Symphony, Veronica also serves as concertmaster for Regina Opera Company and performs regularly with Chelsea Symphony and New Amsterdam Opera Company. An Arizona native, she received a Bachelor of Music degree from Northern Arizona University and a Masters of Music from Boston Conservatory, where she studied with violinist Katie Lansdale. 

Centre Symphony Orchestra
Scott Jackson Wiley, Conductor
Wen Qian, Violin

Suggested donation $20. Online box office opens six weeks before the concert.

Mikhael Glinka‍ ‍Spanish Overture No. 1 (Caprioccio Brilliante on the “Jota Aragonesa”)

Emilie Luise Frederica Mayer Symphony No. 2 in E minor

Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo Symphony espagnole in D minor, Opus 21
‍ ‍ Wen Qian, Violin

Wen Qian was appointed as a first violinist in 1997 at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where she has also served as the acting Assistant Concertmaster for many years. Over the years she has been invited to be a guest concertmaster with the Philharmonia of the Nation, Germany, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, Jupiter Symphony of New York, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Tianjin Symphony Orchestra and Shenzhen Symphony.

Writing in The Strad magazine, Dennis Rooney described Ms. Qian’s playing as “a rare thrill,” writing that her Carnegie Hall recital “was performed with enough insight and panache to thrill a listener while at the same time raising the question of why such results are so rarely achieved.“

Ms. Qian has soloed with the Central Philharmonic of China, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Mannes Orchestra, Jupiter Symphony, South Shore Symphony, Centre Symphony and Long Beach Symphony. As a chamber musician, she has performed in music festivals and concert series including the Marlboro, Tanglewood, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and among others.

Ms. Qian currently serves on the faculty at the Mannes College of Music, the demands of Ms. Qian’s teaching includes masterclasses and coachings at the New World Symphony in Miami, New York Youth Symphony, NYU, Conservatories throughout China and Taiwan.

Centre Symphony Orchestra
Marc Kissóczy, Guest Conductor
Hsing-Chwen Hsin, Piano
Ming-Feng Hsin, Violin

Suggested donation $20. Online box office opens six weeks before the concert.

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Opus 68, F Major (Pastorale)

Felix Mendelssohn Concerto for Piano, Violin and Strings in D Minor
Hsing-Chwen Hsin, Piano
Ming-Feng Hsin, Violin

Hsing-Chwen Giselle Hsin is one of the most esteemed pianists from Asia. Her predecessor Fou Ts'ong, internationally the most venerated concert pianist from China, recognizes her as "a true artist", and praises her for "reaching the highest realm in music, especially in the performances of Mozart". She is also a piano professor and served several terms as Director of the Institute of Music at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. She has adjudicated, lectured and given master classes nationwide and internationally, such as at Portugal’s Coimbra World Piano Meeting, England’s Royal Northern College of Music and the Yehudi Menuhin School, and Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Germany’s SRIMF, and Israel’s Tel Aviv International Piano Competition.

On CD, her recording of Mozart, Ravel and Chopin, published by Decca of Taiwan, has won her critical acclaim, resulting in the selection of Editor's Choice in the All Music Magazine. She has also won several competition prizes internationally. These include the prestigious Chappell Gold Medal from London's Royal College of Music, the Mozart Bicentenary Piano Competition of Asia, and New York's Chopin Piano Competition. Among the great concert halls of the world, Dr. Hsin has performed in London's Wigmore Hall, South Bank’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room; New York's 92nd Street Y, and Merkin Hall; California's Lobero and Arlington Theatres (Santa Barbara); Hong Kong's Cultural Center and City Hall; Guangzhou's Xinghai Concert Hall and Hunan's Cultural Center (China); and Taipei’s National Concert Hall and Novel Hall. She has also given numerous performances elsewhere in England, and in France, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, United States, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

At 17, she performed as a duo with Sir Yehudi Menuhin in the D Minor Violin Sonata by Brahms at the Uppottery Festival, England. That same year she was also invited to give a solo recital debut in the Archbishop of York’s Palace. In her native country Taiwan, she was honored by its President to perform at the Presidential Hall Concert in 1994. As a soloist in concertos, she has performed with USA’s Santa Barbara Symphony, Augustus Symphony, Long Island South Shore Symphony, Stony Brook Orchestra; Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony, Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, Taiwan Symphony Orchestra; the Guildhall String Ensemble of England, the Guangzhou and Hunan Symphony Orchestras of China, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Moreover, she gave the world premier of Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, written in 1999 for her, by one of Taiwan’s foremost composers, Tsung-Hsien Yang, as well as a Taiwan Premier of Hans Tutschku’s Cells-Lines for piano and live-electronics in 2015. Starting from 2014, her recitals aim to combine musical experience with visual creations in collaboration with artist colleagues. In 2016, her solo recital at the National Concert Hall in Taipei featured imageries for Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit, created by visual artist Chi-Min Hsieh on stage. More recitals have taken places including ones that commemorated Debussy and Ma Shui-Long in 2018. Her set of two CDs published by National Chiao Tung University Press includes a Chinese/English dual language booklet of the pianist’s own essay From Bach to Mozart to Chopin: a Retrospective Chopin Approach. This has been widely recognized as a hallmark of integrating scholarship, with exquisite performance.

As an avid and versatile chamber music artist, collaborating in duo and chamber music recitals with internationally renowned first prize winners, including violinist Cho-Liang Lin (Queen Sofia), Qian Zhou (Jacques Thibaud) and Nai-Yuan Hu (Queen Elizabeth), she has also partnered with distinguished international artists, such as violinists James Buswell and Christophe Boulier; violist Hsin-Yun Huang; cellists Gary Hoffman, Antonio Lysy, Pi-Chin Chien, as well as pianists Gilbert Kalish and Pi-Hsien Chen. In 2005, Prof. Hsin founded a leading chamber group of Taiwan, the ChiaoTa Chamber Ensemble, representing NCTU’s Institute of Music and dedicated to the promotion, including the premiering, of classic and contemporary chamber music repertoire in Taiwan.

After winning First Prize at the National Piano Competition for juniors, Ms. Hsin – at 13 - went on to study as a protégé of Baroness Léni Fé Bland at England’s renowned Yehudi Menuhin School. Further studies included a Performer’s Diploma from the Royal College of Music, a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from SUNY Stony Brook. She has studied with Simon Nicholls, Louis Kentner, Vlado Perlemuter, Kendall Taylor, Jerome Lowenthal, Andras Schiff, Ick Choo Moon, Aube Tzerko, Gilbert Kalish and Leon Fleisher. Combining their inspiration and her own further distillation in artistic search, she enjoys passing a healthy and stylistically suitable way of playing to her students. While developing the students’ technical ease and prowess, she also firmly believes in the power and experience of chamber music towards fine musicianship.

Hailed by the Scotsman as “destined to be one of the giants of the next generation” after winning the first prize at the Glasgow International Violin Competition at age 15, Ming-Feng Hsin has enjoyed a unique and rich journey as a multifaceted musician. He has lived through roles as a child prodigy, soloist, chamber musician, orchestra musician, and conductor. Having experienced a major setback from a career-ending accident at the cusp of a very promising solo career, he later triumphed over such upheaval which brought him the grounding to become a revered artist and an insightful mentor for the next generation.

Ming-Feng Hsin began his musical journey as a child-prodigy national hero in Taiwan. At age 13, he was discovered by his mentor Lord Menuhin with whom he has performed throughout Great Britain, and in Washington D.C. where Ming also starred as soloist playing for President Ford and Queen Elizabeth during America's bicentennial celebrations. Later he soloed with orchestras such as the Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra to rave reviews.  After coming to the U.S. to study with Ivan Galamian, Jascha Brodsky at the Curtis Institute of Music, he won top prizes in several competitions including the Montreal International Violin Competition, but was soon sidelined by an injury that took years to heal. After realizing he could not live a life without music and being on stage, he decided to pursue conducting and graduated from the conducting class of Otto Werner Mueller at The Juilliard School. In the 1990’s Ming was the Music Director of the South Shore Symphony of Long Island, while also conducting orchestras throughout the US and Taiwan. As his finger healed gradually, he often led these orchestras as soloist/conductor.

In 1994, despite not being a violinist for 10 years, Ming won a first violin position at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and began his 24-year tenure there.  Even with the rigorous schedule at the Met, Ming started to play more and more solo and chamber concerts, as well as still keeping up with conducting, such as full opera productions of Aida, The Flying Dutchman with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, concerts with the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra and Curtis Orchestra at Rockefeller Center. He also guest conducted frequently the top orchestras in Taiwan and worked with many youth and college orchestras in the New York area as well as in Taiwan. In 2018 Ming retired from the Met to spend more time with his children, and to devote his energies to more playing, conducting and teaching. 

Internationally recognized as a conductor of extraordinary versatility, musicality and discernment, Marc Kissóczy has led performances of symphonic music, contemporary ensembles, opera, operetta and Symphonic Pops to equal acclaim.

Mr. Kissóczy has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of Zurich Youth Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2002.  From 2002 to 2009, he was appointed Music Director of and Conductor of the highly renowned Camerata Zurich, a professional chamber orchestra with a large tradition and a strong commitment to contemporary music.

In addition to his work in opera and operetta, Mr. Kissóczy has enjoyed great success on the concert stage. He has conducted the Zurich Tonhalle and Zurcher Kammerorchester, the Basel and Berne Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Orchester des Saarlaendischen Rundfunks, Slowenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic, Orquestra Municipal do Sao Paulo, Taipei Sinfonietta, Ensemble Intercontemporain Paris and many other orchestras in France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Finland, Brazil, Taiwan and other countries.

Marc Kissóczy has conducted a variety of Pops productions over the years including the traditional and prestigious New Years Concerts with the Aargau Symphony Orchestra and has achieved considerable success conducting operas, operettas, Pops and Children’s Concerts, film soundtracks and contemporary music. He led many premieres and his concerts are being broadcast on radio and TV stations in Europe, Asia and South America.

Since 1996 he is on the faculty of the Musikhochschule (Music Academy) at the University of the Arts in Zurich; since 2005 as professor of orchestral conducting and is Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Camerata Zurich. Since 2011 he also leads a conducting class at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana.

Marc Kissóczy, born 1961 in Canada to Hungarian-Swiss parents, studied Violin and Conducting at the Music Academies of Zurich, Basel and Berne (Switzerland) and graduated with highest honours. At the Pierre Monteux School in Maine, USA, he completed his studies in conducting and won thereafter a number of national and international prizes, among them at the prestigious ‘Ernest Ansermet’ Competition in Geneva (1994) where he was a standing member and also president of the jury in the following years. Further studies took him to the Tanglewood Music Centre, to Sergiu Celibidache, Pierre Boulez and others. The critics repeatedly acclaim his outstanding musicality and sensitivity, his expressiveness and precise conducting technique.

In 1999, the government of Vietnam has awarded Marc Kissóczy the highest medal of culture in recognition of his merits in restoration of the musical life in Vietnam working very extensively with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. He is frequently asked as member of the jury at national and international competitions.