Keiko Kagawa
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.
Arthur Wu
Arthur lives in Carmel, California, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He made his professional opera debut as Goro in Madama Butterfly with West Bay Opera, and has also performed in their productions as the Notary and the First Jew in Salome. Additionally, he understudied Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore) with the COSI summer opera program in Sulmona, Italy.
He has worked with I Cantori di Carmel as a soloist, performing Ravel’s L’aurore, Haydn’s Mass in B-flat minor, and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. Arthur is the choir director at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Carmel Valley. His oratorio repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. He also occasionally sings with the Carmel Bach Festival and performs in various genres, such as jazz and rock, across the Monterey Peninsula.
Isaiah Musik-Ayala (Bass)
With a voice that the New York Times has praised as “burly and resonant,” and the San Francisco Classical Voice has called “commanding and compelling,” American bass Isaiah Musik-Ayala is gaining recognition in a wide variety of repertoire across the United States.
In the 2024-25 season, Isaiah returns to Anchorage Opera for all three productions. He makes his role debut as Haly in L’Italiana in Algeri, in a co-production with Houston’s Opera in the Heights. He also reprises his Bonze in Madama Butterfly and sings a variety of Mozart repertoire in the company’s immersive pastiche production of Mozart at the Museum, performed at the Anchorage Museum and developed by Artistic Director Ben Robinson. A last minute opportunity saw Isaiah revisit the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with Greenville Symphony, and this season features a debut as Lodovico in West Bay Opera’s Otello and a debut as Orgon in Tartuffe with Pocket Opera in San Francisco.
Highlights of the 2023-2024 season include Isaiah's debut at the Los Angeles Philharmonic as The Groundskeeper in Oliver Leith’s Last Days, a new opera chronicling the last days in the life of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, under the baton of Thomas Adès. He also débuted with Anchorage Opera as Baron Douphol in La Traviata and returned to Opera San Jose to cover Bartolo in their latest production of Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Sonia Gariaeff
Mezzo Sonia Gariaeff has received critical acclaim for her opulent tone and charismatic stage presence. After completing her training as an apprentice artist at Portland Opera, she established herself in the lyric mezzo repertoire with roles such as Nicklausse, Orlovsky, Cherubino, and Cenerentola with companies such as Virginia Opera, Eugene Opera and Opera in the Heights. A three time regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Awards, she has performed as a soloist with the Carmel Bach Festival, the San Francisco Symphony, and Princeton Pro Musica. Noted for her comedic timing, Ms. Gariaeff is a veteran performer of the Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire and roles such as Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus and the Marquise in Daughter of the Regiment. Recent performances include the roles of Glasha in Katya Kabanova with West Edge Opera and Dorella in No Love Allowed with Pocket Opera.
Krassen Karagiozov
Spencer Dodd
Baritone Spencer Dodd’s Previous roles include Scarpia in Tosca, The Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, 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, Friederich in Wagner’s No Love Allowed and Tonio in Pagliacci. He has performed with the San Francisco Opera Chorus, West Edge Opera, Pocket Opera, Opera Together outreach with San Francisco Opera, Classical Romantic Concerts in Osaka Japan, and Ars Minerva.
Michael Taylor
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).
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.