The Navarro Trio, Sonoma State University's faculty ensemble-in-residence since 1992, announces the appointment of violinist Tammie Dyer starting in January 2024. Dyer joins trio co-founders Marilyn Thompson, piano, and Jill Rachuy Brindel, cello, for their upcoming performance on January 28 at 2 p.m. in Schroeder Hall.
Dyer is known throughout the North Bay as a chamber musician and performer with, among others, Hidden Valley String Orchestra in Carmel, the Ives Collective, Opus Series in Mendocino, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera orchestras, the Santa Rosa Symphony and Mendocino Music Festival. She holds degrees from Stony Brook University (Doctor of Musical Arts), Rice University (Master of Music), and the University of Utah (Bachelor of Music). Her teachers include Philip Setzer, Dorothy DeLay, Pamela Frank, Soovin Kim, Kathleen Winkler, members of the Cleveland String Quartet and the Emerson String Quartet.
As a former artist teacher at Simply Strings — an El Sistema-inspired program — Dyer is committed to supporting music in our schools through teaching and outreach. She enjoys playing a variety of musical styles, and is passionate about sharing the transformative experience of live music.
The January 28 program will feature A Child's Reliquary by Richard Danielpour, written in memory of Cole Carsan St. Clair, son of conductor Carl St. Clair, who passed away at the age of 18 months. Danielpour writes:
I know of nothing more tragic or heartbreaking than the death of a child. The inspiration for A Child’s Reliquary (Piano Trio) came from the untimely and tragic death of Cole Carson St. Clair, the 18-month-old son of Carl and Susan St. Clair. The work was intended as a kind of kindertotenlieder without words – and everything in the piece, including references to the Brahms Cradle Song – relates to its initial inspiration. Work on A Child’s Reliquary began on August 19, 1999, and was completed on September 17th of the same year. The work was written expressly for Jamie Laredo, Sharon Robinson and Joseph Kalichstein and is dedicated to the memory of Cole Carson St. Clair.
Navarro Trio will also perform Johannes Brahms' youthful Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8; and Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No 1 in D Minor, Op. 49.