Conductor & Accompanist

Mariko Kanamitsu has been the Music Director and Conductor of the Japanese Chorus Kaguya since 2011.  She has performed solo recitals with various instrumentalists throughout San Diego.  Some notable performances have been at area colleges and libraries, including the Central Library and the Carmel Valley Library. Previously, she spent over 15 years in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, where she performed numerous solo recitals and oratorios as a soloist.  In Washington D.C., she pursued her voice studies with Professor Linda Mabbs of the University of Maryland.  In Tokyo, she was on the faculty of music education at Musashino Music College.   She has a B.A. in Voice and an M.A. in Music Education from Musashino Music College.  A dedicated teacher, Mariko runs her own piano and vocal studio.

Maki Teague joined the Japanese Chorus Kaguya May 2024 as the choir’s piano accompanist. She started piano lessons at three years old, studied piano performance at Toho Gakuen College, and earned a B.A. in Music Therapy at Baldwin-Wallace University. Her teachers include Miyo Kiyoshima, Mari Miyamoto, Hisako Shibanuma, professor at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, and Dr. Robert Mayerovitch at Baldwin-Wallace University. Her passion for music includes not only performing as a solo pianist but also accompanying choirs and other solo musicians. Her motto is creating sounds of beauty and representing each composer’s unique style of music expression through her performances.