Navarro River String Camp Faculty

Photo by Larry Lozares

Marion Crombie, co-director of Navarro River String camp, was born in England and received her training on the viola at the Robert Schumann Konservatorium in Dusseldorf, 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. Moving to California in 1993 and continuing to freelance and teach, in 2002 Marion founded the Symphony of the Redwoods Youth Orchestra and Redwood Youth String Camp, also held at Wellspring. In 2004, at the request of their adult students wanting a string camp as well, Marion and Marcia Sloane started Navarro River String Camp. Marion is currently living in England where she is in her second year of a three-year training course in Alexander Technique. She commutes to California for string camp.

Marcia Sloane, co-director of Navarro River String camp, grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, started playing cello at age nine, and joined the ranks of working musicians in Waikiki’s Don Ho orchestra. She studied cello with Margaret Rowell at Stanford and received a B. A. in India Studies from Sonoma State University studying north Indian classical singing. Marcia has enjoyed both classical and non-classical endeavors throughout her career, playing orchestral and chamber music while collaborating with choreographers, visual artists, storytellers, filmmakers, and theatre companies. She has been a community college instructor of world music and music theory and for 30 years has maintained a private cello studio. Marcia completed the first TaKeTiNa teacher training offered in the US, learning to facilitate this group rhythm process which uses the body as a musical instrument. She has produced several CDs of original music along with Cello Drones for Tuning and Improvisation, a CD practice partner used by musicians throughout the world.

Abigail Summers 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 the Baroque cello and viola da gamba. Since moving to California in 1988, Abigail has performed in various chamber and orchestral ensembles in Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma counties. A private piano and cello instructor for over 20 years, Abigail has taught string classes at both Waldorf Schools in Mendocino County and has taken an active role with the county youth orchestras.

After suffering from 'backache' during her teens, Abigail found relief from attending Iyengar Yoga classes in London whilst in College. For the past 20 years she has been a student of Mary Paffard at Yoga Mendocino (Y.O.M.O.) in Ukiah and in 2005 she completed a teacher-training there. She taught yoga at the Willits senior center from 1995-2000 and since then has taught mixed level and adaptive classes at Y.O.M.O and at her home. Abigail, along with her husband and two younger children, are currently living in Devon, England, and Abigail also commutes to California for string camp.

Burke Schuchmann 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, Burke became principal cellist and soloist with the Salzburger Solisten in Austria. He has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe and the U.S. and has served as principal cellist and soloist with the Sacramento Symphony and the Mendocino Music Festival. He has taught at the University of California at Berkeley and California State University Chico, and is director of the Palomarin Chamber Music Foundation. A gifted teacher known for the depth of his musical interpretation, Burke directs chamber music workshops and coaches at the Crowden School adult chamber music program.

Elizabeth Grunin began playing cello at the age of four and studied with Susan Lamb Cook. She has been a member of the Sacramento Youth Symphony, Camellia Symphony, the C.S.U.S. and U.C. Davis Symphony orchestras, and has performed with chamber groups and as a soloist at the Crocker Art Museum, Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center, and other venues. In 2002 Elizabeth traveled to Austria to participate in the Classical Music Festival hosted by Scripps College. She also played with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra on their European tour and with Youth Music International in Oxford, England. Currently Elizabeth is a senior at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music studying with Jennifer Culp, Mark Sokol, Ian Swensen and Jean-Michele Fonteneau.

Morgan McMahon grew up in Mendocino County and started violin lessons at the age of five. She was a student of Marion Crombie and most recently has studied with Yoko Acheson of Petaluma. Morgan was concertmaster of the Redwood Youth Symphony for several years during high school. She is in her third year at the University of California, Davis where she plays in the U.C.D. Symphony Orchestra and is pursuing a major in Environmental Horticulture. She has been assisting at Navarro River String Camp for the past four years.

Photo by Larry Lozares