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.
Violin
Tammie Dyer
Tammie holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University, an M.M. from Rice University, and a B.M. from the University of Utah. She has studied with many of the great artists of our time, including Philip Setzer, Dorothy DeLay, Pamela Frank, Kathleen Winkler, members of the Cleveland String Quartet, and the Emerson String Quartet. An enthusiast of contemporary music, she has worked with many composers, including Steve Reich, Harrison Birtwistle, Mario Davidovsky, and Shulamit Ran. An avid chamber musician, Tammie has attended the Tanglewood, Aspen and Sarasota music festivals, taught at the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop at Humboldt State, and was in residence at the Upper Valley Music Center in New Hampshire with the Ocarina String Quartet. Tammie is currently active as a teacher and performer in the greater Bay Area and has played with Symphony of the Redwoods, the Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra, the North State Symphony, Philharmonia Healdsburg, the American Philharmonic, the Santa Rosa Symphony, and at such venues as Davies Symphony Hall, the Greek Theater, the Fox Theater, and the Gallo Center for the Arts.
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.
Cello
Marcia Sloane
Marcia, co-director of Navarro River String Camp, has had a wide-ranging career in the U.S. and Canada playing orchestral and chamber music, improvising and composing for dance and theatre, arranging and playing for recordings, and collaborating with visual artists and storytellers. She was one of the founders of Symphony of the Redwoods on the Mendocino Coast in 1983 where she has resided and maintained a private teaching studio for many years. Marcia attended Stanford University and received a B. A. in India Studies from Sonoma State University studying north Indian classical music. Her training as a Ta Ke Ti Na teacher with Austrian percussionist Reinhard Flatishler influences her work as a teacher, performer, and composer. She has made several CDs of her music as well as Cello Drones for Tuning and Improvisation, a CD used by musicians throughout the world.
Cello
Abigail Summers
Abigail grew up in the English countryside, playing piano and cello from an early age. She studied performance at the Royal College of Music in London and while there took an interest in Baroque cello and viola da gamba. Since moving to California in 1988 she has performed with various chamber and orchestral ensembles in Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma counties. A private cello and piano teacher for over 30 years, Abigail’s studio is now in Sebastopol, Sonoma County. She is currently principal cello in the Vintners Chamber Orchestra and cello coach for Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State symphony orchestras.
Interest in Yoga began over 30 years ago due to a ‘nagging backache’. Abigail initially studied Iyengar style Yoga and completed a Teacher Training at Yoga Mendocino in 2005; since then she has taught Yoga classes in England and California and has helped many Navarro River string campers to ‘Stretch & Relax’.
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.
