Veronica Chapman-Smith, Soprano

With a voice that has been described as “exquisite,” “sublime,” and “pure beauty,” soprano Veronica Chapman-Smith has performed with opera companies and orchestras across the country while keeping firm roots in her hometown of Philadelphia. She has performed with small choruses and full orchestras, in intimate outdoor venues and major opera houses. She is an Artist in Residence at Temple University and has sung as a core member of many local choral ensembles, but frequently travels outside of the area to perform.

Recently, she sang the role of the High Priestess for Opera Birmingham’s Aida. Last year, Ms. Chapman-Smith added several new roles to her repertoire, including Liu (Turandot) with Opera Birmingham, the title role in Lakme with Concert OPERA of Philadelphia and Nedda (I Pagliacci) with Sycamore Opera and The Cousin (Madama Butterfly) with the Opera Company of Philadelphia. Of her finessed and dramatic portrayal of Liu, the press remarked that “(she) sang passionately in the tear-jerking Act 1 aria, "Signore, ascolta," her final high pianissimo notes suspended in pure beauty. In Act 3, she provided one of the opera's most startling and poignant moments when she stabbed herself at the end of "Tu che di gel." She also performed a recital of opera and Broadway favorites to open Opera Birmingham’s performance season and traveled to Louisiana to celebrate the holidays as a soloist for the Northern Louisiana / Union Parish Arts Council’s I’ll Be Home for Christmas concerts.

Ms. Chapman-Smith performed two roles in Porgy and Bess in 2008, singing Clara with Opera Birmingham and Lilly with Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also appeared with Opera Delaware as Gianetta in The Gondoliers and won fifth place and audience favorite in the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition.

2007 was a year of rave reviews for Ms. Chapman-Smith on both the opera and the concert stage. Of Opera Birmingham’s production of Cenerentola, Michael Huebner of The Birmingham News remarked "The role of Clorinda was engagingly sung, Veronica Chapman-Smith milked the sister's arrogance and ineptitude for all their worth. This was a five star production!” Her recital performance with famed mezzo Marietta Simpson and bass Kevin Maynor was praised by the Birmingham Times, “Veronica Chapman-Smith’s agility and confidence in the upper register created some of the concert's most sublime passages. Her embellishments in 'Ride On King Jesus' were exquisite." Additional concert performances took her Muskegon, MI for performances with the West Shore Symphony, to Tennessee for the Memphis Symphony’s televised “Home for The Holidays” concert and to Spoleto, Italy for the invitational Festival di Due Monde.

During 2006 Ms. Chapman-Smith performing Sandrina in La Finta Giardiniera with Elysium Concert Opera of Philadelphia and Fiordiligi (Cosi fan Tutte) with Delaware Valley Opera Company, and the title character in Little Red Riding Hood with Opera Birmingham. Michael Caruso of the Chestnut Hill Local called her a “romantic and pearl voiced Fiordiligi.” She also performed several musical theater selections with Bristol Riverside Theater for their Summer Musicale and then their holiday-themed Winter Musicale. Anita Donovan of The Trenton Times remarked, “Veronica Chapman-Smith’s…powerful version of ‘Summertime’, ‘I Loves You Porgy’, My Man’s Gone Now’, and (the duet) ‘Bess You Is My Woman Now’ makes one long or a full-scale revival.”

2005 Ms. Chapman-Smith performed Edith in Pirates of Penzance with Gulf Atlantic Symphony of Florida, Violetta (student matinee performance) and Aninna (main stage production) for Center City Opera Theater’s La Traviata. That summer Ms. Chapman-Smith returned to Ash Lawn Opera Festival and appeared as Dolly Tate in Annie Get Your Gun. She was also chosen to be Gretel in Opera Birmingham’s educational tour of Hansel and Gretel. After leaving Birmingham Ms. Chapman-Smith sang Donna Elvira with New York Opera Project, in which Debra Banerjee of the Scarsdale Inquire called her performance “very emotional….a very dramatic presence.”

Ms. Chapman-Smith spent most of 2004 away from her Philadelphia home performing with Opera Colorado as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel (outreach ensemble) and Berta (student matinee performance) in Il barbiere di Siviglia. She also performed the roles of Susanna (one performance) and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Theater of The Rockies in Colorado Springs, and performed with the Colorado Symphony in their “Opera on The Rocks” concert at Red Rocks. That summer she was chosen as an apprentice at the Ash Lawn Opera Festival singing the Boylen Sister in Annie and Berta (cover) in The Barber of Seville.

In 2003 Ms. Chapman-Smith made her professional debut performing the title role in the Savoy Company’s production of Princess Ida, and appeared with the Young Artist Program at Natchez Opera Festival performing the role of the Princess in Fair Means of Foul. That same year she also performed at Shaker Mountain Opera as Gianetta in L’elisir d’amore and Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro.

Ms. Chapman-Smith has also been a soprano soloist for the Charlotte Symphony, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Mendelsshon Club of Philadelphia, Ursinus College, In Clara Voce, and Orquestra Sinfonica Municipal de Caracas to name a few. Ms. Chapman-Smith is known for her very versatile vocal abilities. Some demonstrations of her flexibility include her appearance with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia as the voice of Joan of Arc (a part that previously was only sung by members of the well-known group Anonymous 4) in Richards Einhorn’s Voices of Light and her appearance as soloist in the Monteverdi Vespers 1610 with Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia.

Ms. Chapman-Smith’s upcoming/resent engagements include being a soloist for another tour for the Northeast Louisiana / Union Parish Arts Council’s Amazing Grace (featuring music of various religions, time periods and styles), soloist for the Shenandoah Bach Festival’s Mozart C minor mass, and her first Countess with the Shenandoah Bach Festival’s concert version Le nozze di Figaro, First Lady with Opera Delaware, and First Soprano in the Solo Quartet in Opera Company Philadelphia's Manon.