About the coaches
Sabina Strings and Navarro River String Camp
A lifelong passion for playing chamber music led to the formation in 2002 of the Redwood Youth String Camp, as a way of introducing young players to the joys of chamber music. At the request of their adult students wanting a string camp as well, Marion Crombie and Marcia Sloane started Navarro River String Camp in 2004 in the Mendocino area. Initially a small and local annual event, it very soon outgrew it’s locations and moved gradually southwards. The camp was very happily housed at the Angela Center in Santa Rosa until the tragic fires in 2017 destroyed those buildings, and it looked as if that might be the end of Navarro River String Camp. However, Marion Crombie and Cathy Allen were extremely fortunate to find an opening for summer 2018 at Santa Sabina Center in San Rafael, and now the spirit of Navarro River String Camp lives on as Sabina Strings.
Cello & Body Mapping
Cathy Allen
Cathy, co-director of Sabina Strings, is a San Francisco Bay Area cellist, cello teacher and Body Mapping practitioner. She completed her certification in Body Mapping in May 2015 and has introduced Body Mapping to many string camps in her area including All Things Cello, Suzuki Camp, Sabina Strings Camp, Winter Strings & Piano Camp and Glenview Strings camp. She performs with Sacramento Philharmonic, and the Carol Trio. Cathy has a private studio of students at her home in El Cerrito California, teaches at Crowden School in Berkeley and coaches for local youth symphonies and in the Oakland Middle Schools for the HOUSE chamber ensemble project.
Viola & Alexander Technique
Marion Crombie
Marion, co-director of Navarro River String Camp and Sabina Strings, was born in England and received her training on the viola at the Robert Schumann Konservatorium in Düsseldorf, and at the Royal College of Music in London. She has been teaching since 1972, combining this with playing in orchestras and chamber ensembles and raising three children. Marion moved from Oxford to California in 1993 where she continued to freelance and teach. In September 2008 Marion moved back to England to start on a three year training course in Alexander Technique. She graduated in July 2011, and is now working as an Alexander Technique teacher as well as viola player and viola/violin teacher. She divides her time between the US and the UK.
Cello
Burke Schuchmann
Burke studied in London with William Pleeth for five years, making his debut at age 19. He also studied for extended periods of time with Margaret Rowell and Colin Hampton. After finishing his studies in England, he became principal cellist and soloist with the Salzburger Solisten in Austria. He has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, the U.S., and Israel, and has served as principal cellist and soloist with the Sacramento Symphony and Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra. Burke is the artistic director of the Palomarin Chamber Music Foundation and directs the Berkeley and Marin Chamber Music Workshops. He has taught on the faculties of CSU Chico, UC Berkeley, and San Domenico School’s Conservatory of Music.
The coaches playing together was really fabulous. Burke playing the cello suites was also a big plus. It just filled my soul and the piano trio at night was another soul-filling time. The entire five days was joyful and a great experience.
