Veena Akama-Makia will join the Royal Opera House as a member of the Jette Parker Artist for their 2023-24 season. She will make her Royal Opera House debut and role debut as Giovanna in Rigoletto (Verdi), Zweite Magd in Elektra (Strauss), and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Puccini). She will also be covering the roles of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Mary in Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner), and Bersi in Andrea Chénier (Giordano). This season will also mark her Royal Philharmonic Orchestra debut and role debut as Marta in a concert performance of Iolanta (Tchaikovsky).

In Ms. Akama-Makia’s 2022-23 season, she was an Apprentice Artist with Des Moines Metro Opera, where she covered the roles of Mercédès in Carmen (Bizet) and Toledo in The Falling and Rising (Redler/Dye). Before that, she completed her final season as a Chicago Opera Theater/Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University Professional Diploma Candidate and Young Artist, where she covered roles in performances of Carmen (Bizet) and Becoming Santa Claus (Adamo). This Spring, she made her role debut as Nancy in Albert Herring (Britten) and debuted the role of Kendra in the world premiere of The Cook-Off (Okpebohlo/Campbell). Akama-Makia has also made her mark with notable performances, including her COT debut as Tawny Betty in the world premiere of Quamino’s Map (Wallen/Brevoort) and the role of Tree Spirit in The Bee Keeper (Lu/Rourke) as part of COT’s Vanguard Initiative. 

In the summer of 2022, she participated in San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program as a Young Artist, where she performed the role of Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte (Mozart) and gained acclaim for her excerpted portrayals of Mother from Blue (Tesori/Thompson) and Alisa from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) in the Merola Grand Finale.

Veena Akama-Makia has been recognized with numerous awards, including being the winner of the 2023 American Opera Society of Chicago Best Vocal Artist Award, a Finalist in the 2023 Butler International Opera Competition, a 2023 Annapolis Opera Voice Competition Semi-finalist, a 2022 & 2021 Encouragement Award Winner from The Metropolitan Opera’s Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition-Illinois District, Semi-Finalist in the 2022 Irene Dalis Vocal Competition, Tier I Semi-Finalist in the James Toland Vocal Competition, a Finalist in the Jesse Kneisel Lieder Competition, a Finalist in the 2020 Mildred Miller Competition, Semi-Finalist in the 2020 Premiere Opera Foundation, and NYIOP International Competition, Semi-Finalist in the 2020 Rochester International Vocal Competition, Semi-Finalist in the 2021 Annapolis Opera Vocal Competition, and received 2nd place in the 2022 Musicians Club of Women Vocal Competition.

Ms. Akama-Makia is an alumna of the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Program, the Chicago Opera Theater Young Artist Program, Merola Opera Program, the Finger Lakes Opera’s Tomita Young Artist Program, and the Rochester Fringe Festival. She received her Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and earned her Bachelor of Music at the University of Central Arkansas.