
Keiko Kagawa

Kazuko Oishi (Pianist)
Kazuko Oishi, Japanese pianist, studied at Kyoto City University of Arts, and has performed as a piano soloist and chamber musician in Japan and the United States. She produced and performed in various charitable concerts for disabled people and for a high school for students with special needs. She also has been an enthusiastic teacher of young children to adults for a long time. Adult audiences at her recent solo recitals, who had not played the piano since childhood, re-discovered the joy of music and started taking lessons from her.
She is currently living in Tokyo and is a conductor of the women's Choir Florian and is an accompanist of the mixed chorus groups Cosmo in California, Tokyo Rakuyu Harmony (a choir of alumni from Kyoto University Chorus) and Cosmo Japan in Tokyo. She has been a full member of the Fortnightly Music Club in California since 2009 and she performs in Fortnightly Music Club concerts. She has collaborated with Ms. Keiko Kagawa for over 10 years on various projects.

Spencer Dodd
Baritone Spencer Dodd is overjoyed to return to the live theater for the first time since COVID. Previous roles include Giovanni and Leporello in Don Giovanni, Figaro and the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Dandini in La Cenerentola, Belcore in L’elisir D’amore, and Tonio in Pagliacci. He has performed with San Francisco Opera, West Edge Opera, Pocket Opera, Opera a la Carte outreach with San Francisco Opera, Classical Romantic Concerts in Osaka Japan, and Ars Minerva. He hopes that in the coming season that he will be able to return to postponed performances from COVID which included covering the role of Merrivale in Gordon Getty’s Opera premiere Goodbye Mr Chips at Festival Napa Valley, and singing Friederich in Wagner’s Opera No Love Allowed (Das Liebesverbot) with Pocket Opera. Fortunately during COVID work on both Operas continued as he participated in a readthrough and recording of Goodbye Mr Chips, and also sang excerpts from No Love Allowed for the Wagner Society of Northern California. Additionally he also worked with the early music Opera company Ars Minerva on two separate occasions for Cocktails and Chit-Chat where he performed music by Cavalli and Caccini over a livestream. Spencer works as a voice teacher at Mid Peninsula Music Academy in Redwood City where he teaches students of all skill levels how to realize their musical goals, and in his time off he enjoys fishing, and exploring California's beautiful roads on his motorcycle.

Nicole Takesono
Originally from Hawaii, mezzo-soprano Nicole Takesono has been praised for her rich, warm voice and dedication to character. Ms. Takesono has performed with San Francisco Opera, Opera San Jose, West Edge Opera, Festival Opera, West Bay Opera, among others. Roles performed include Angelina in La Cenerentola, Dido in Dido and Æneas, Flora and Annina in La Traviata, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Mercedes in Carmen, The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Musetta in La Boheme, Papagena and Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Siébel in Faust, Saint Sarah in Four Saints and Three Acts, Stefano in Romeo and Juliette, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, and Teura/Third Narrator in Bonjour M. Gauguin. Ms. Takesono sings with the San Francisco Opera Chorus, San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Cappella SF, and studies with Deborah Benedict.

Krassen Karagiozov

Michael Taylor

Miho Ogawa

Masae Nagai
Masae Nagai, soprano, came to the U.S.A from Japan in 1995. She studied vocal performance and graduated from Notre Dame de Namur, Belmont, CA. She participated in BASOTI program and has been featured in productions with Lamplighters, Goat Hall, Opera Rouge and Berkeley Opera. She also enjoys performing in Kokoro Vocal Trio, which was formed in 2006 and has been performing locally at church services and community events. The group enjoys Japanese traditional folk songs and classical music from various periods.

Mayumi Ashiya (Yamaha Electone)
Born and raised in Japan, Mayumi began taking lessons on the electric organ at the Yamaha Music School when she was four years old. She continued her studies through college where she majored in electric organ. Upon graduation, Mayumi became an instructor of electric organ at the Yamaha Music School. In 1992, while teaching there, she won the 1st place in “Classical Category” at Yamaha Japanese National Electone Festival & Competition. She was subsequently chosen to represent Japan in the Yamaha International Electone Competition where she won the Bronze Medal. In each case she played Rachmaninoff’s very demanding “Symphonic Dances.” Since then, Mayumi has given a number of solo concerts in and around Tokyo. Other performances include collaborations with various choral and opera groups including Toyama Civic Opera, Ibaraki and Takatsuki-shi Civic Operas, playing Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel and Onna wa Suteki. In the choral music area, she has collaborated with Keio University(慶応大学) and Nihon Joshidai (日本女子大学)in Dovorak’s Requiem and Fauré’s Requiem, and with Nihon Gakuen (日本学園)where she played the organ transcription of Rigoletto by Verdi. She has also performed Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love” and “Don Pasquale”, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Verdi’s La Traviata, and Puccini’s “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly”. Mayumi and Keiko have collaborated and performed together since 2003.

Christopher Bengochea

Carmello Tringali
Carmello Tringali is a versatile performer, composer and Bay Area native. Mostly utilized as a singer, he is also highly valued for his acting ability. As an aspiring music and drama therapist, he daily involves himself in emotional, psychological and spiritual exploration. He has performed a wide variety of roles in terms of voice type, musical style and character. He is enthralled to be joining Silicon Valley Community Opera as Nemorino in this production of L'Elisir D'amore. Some favorite past roles include: Rodolfo(La Boheme), Candide, Faust, Pinkerton(Madame Butterfly), Mengone(Lo Speziale), Jaquino(Fidelio), Basilio(Nozze di Figaro), Camille(Merry Widow), Don Alberto(L'Occasione Fa Il Ladro), Ko-ko(Mikado), Frederic(Pirates of Penzance), Grosvenor(Patience), Henrik(Little Night Music) and Pirelli(Sweeney Todd).