|
|
... |

Bios of the members
Toni Y. Yagami returned to
Denver in
1995 and has been doing performances and workshops in Colorado and
throughout
the United States. Toni is also a performing member of TAIKOZA (based
in
New York City) and has toured with this group throughout the U.S. and
Europe.
Prior to her return to Colorado,
she was
a performing member of San Jose Taiko, a professional performing taiko
group, from 1988 through July 1995. This group toured across the US
(including
Carnegie Hall) and Japan.
Her start was with Denver Taiko
(1979-88),
which included studies with groups from Japan (KODO, Oedo Sukeroku, and
Ondekoza). Other instruments she studied during this time were koto,
shamisen
and minyo/dance in Denver.
With a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Music
Education, Toni has taught western music in the public schools and
currently
teaches private lessons on saxophone and clarinet in addition to taiko.
She also has several recordings and compositions to her credit.
Lance B. Acker, whose true
profession
is a jazz reed man (including 21 years with the Queen
City
Jazz Band), has been playing taiko and takebue (Japanese flute)
since
1996. He has studied the bamboo flute with Marco Lienhard (of Ondekoza
and Taikoza). Lance holds a Master's degree in Music Performance from
the
University of Colorado at Boulder. Balancing taiko performances with his Acker Jazztet gigs, as well as a full roster of private woodwind students can sometimes be a challenge!.
Lance & Toni

|