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

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

Kodai Speich Tharsis (world premiere)
Veronica Mak, Soprano

Samuel Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Veronica Mak, Soprano

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

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.

Highlights of Veronica’s 2025-26 season included a recital series with pianist Shaobai Yuan called In Bloom and In Twilight and her choral debut with Ghostlight Chorus for their program, Blessed. Veronica was featured in the Regina Opera productions of Suor Angelica as Suor Genovieffa and Carmen as Frasquita. Additional performances included 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, Laetitia from 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 composition 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, concertmaster of Centre Symphony Orchestra, 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 first violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 1997. Since that time, she has also served as acting Assistant Concertmaster at the Met Opera and as 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 Carnegie Hall recital as a performance filled “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 appeared as violin soloist 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 Marlboro, Tanglewood, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Ms. Qian currently serves on the faculty at the Mannes College of Music/The New School and frequently offers masterclasses and coaching 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 and Violin in D Minor
Hsing-Chwen Hsin, Piano
Ming-Feng Hsin, Violin

Hsing-Chwen Giselle Hsin enjoys an international career as piano soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. Recipient of the Chappell Gold Medal from London's Royal College of Music, the Mozart Bicentenary Piano Competition of Asia, and New York's Chopin Piano Competition, 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.

Dr. Hsin is piano professor at the Institute of Music at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan and has adjudicated, lectured and given master classes throughout the world, including at Portugal’s Coimbra World Piano Meeting, England’s Royal Northern College of Music and the Yehudi Menuhin School, Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Germany’s SRIMF, and Israel’s Tel Aviv International Piano Competition.

An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with such internationally renowned prize winners as violinist Cho-Liang Lin (Queen Sofia), Qian Zhou (Jacques Thibaud) and Nai-Yuan Hu (Queen Elizabeth). She has also partnered with violinists James Buswell and Christophe Boulier; violist Hsin-Yun Huang; cellists Gary Hoffman, Antonio Lysy, Pi-Chin Chien, and pianists Gilbert Kalish and Pi-Hsien Chen. In 2005 Dr. Hsin founded the ChiaoTa Chamber Ensemble, representing NCTU’s Institute of Music and dedicated to the promotion of classic and contemporary chamber music repertoire in Taiwan.

Fifteeen-year-old violinist Ming-Feng Hsin was hailed by The Scotsman as “destined to be one of the giants of the next generation” after he was awarded First Prize at the Glasgow International Violin Competition. Over the decades he has enjoyed a rich journey as a child prodigy, soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, teacher, 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 national hero in Taiwan. At the age of 13 he was discovered by his mentor Lord Menuhin, with whom he performed throughout Great Britain and the U.S., including a 1975 concert in Washington D.C. for President Ford and Queen Elizabeth during America's bicentennial celebrations. While living in the U.K. he performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra, always to rave reviews, and after moving to the U.S. to study with Ivan Galamian and Jascha Brodsky, he won top prizes in several competitions including the Montreal International Violin Competition. When his career was sidelined by an injury that took years to heal, he pursued conducting and graduated from the conducting class of Otto Werner Mueller at The Juilliard School. In the 1990’s Ming served as 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 and conductor.

In 1994 Ming won a first violin position at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where he enjoyed a 24-year tenure.  Even with the rigorous schedule at the Met, Ming continued to conduct, including a full opera productions of Aida and The Flying Dutchman with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, and collaborations with the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, Curtis Orchestra, and many of the top orchestras and conservatories in Taiwan. In 2018 Ming retired from the Met to spend more time with his children, and to devote his energies to 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. Career highlights include his roles as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Zurich Youth Symphony Orchestra (1996-2002) and as Music Director and Conductor of the renowned Camerata Zurich (2002-2009).

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 is at home in a variety of musical settings, including the traditional and prestigious New Years Concerts with the Aargau Symphony Orchestra, as well as operas, operettas, Pops and Children’s Concerts, film soundtracks and contemporary music. He currently serves on the faculty of the Musikhochschule (Music Academy) at the University of the Arts in Zurich and as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Camerata Zurich.

Born in Canada to Hungarian-Swiss parents, Kissóczy studied Violin and Conducting at the Music Academies of Zurich, Basel and Berne (Switzerland) and graduated with highest honors. Following the completion of his conducting studies at the Pierre Monteux School, he was awarded 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. He pursued further studies at Tanglewood and with conductors Sergiu Celibidache and Pierre Boulez.

In 1999 the government of Vietnam awarded Marc Kissóczy the highest medal of culture in recognition of his merits in restoring the musical life of that country and his extensive work with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra.