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.