Biography
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.