The Tarquinia Trio

FROM 2010 CONCERT PROMO

The newly formed Tarquinia Trio will present fine vocal and instrumental chamber music in a program including rare vocal works by J.S. Bach, dynamically paired with master composers of Russian repertoire, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Glinka. The featured performers: Natasha Tsyvinskaia, originally from Russia, studied piano performance at the Kiev Conservatory; Hart Smith on French horn, trumpet, and trombone, toured with the Toshiko Akioshi New York Jazz Orchestra throughout Europe, the U.S., and Japan; and Heidi Van der Veer who has sung opera, oratorio, and art song in Italy and Hawaii, sings with the Carmel Bach Festival Chorus. In addition to music, Heidi has a new gourmet mail-order chocolate business, Tarquinia Truffles, which specializes in Dark Chocolate Grand Marnier Truffles, the proceeds of which go to fund the arts. Don't miss this debut performance of the Tarquinia Trio, and the chance to purchase delicious Tarquinia Truffles at the concert.

Heidi Van der Veer holds a B.A. in Performing Arts-Voice from the University of Hawaii, and is a sought-after soloist, having sung with Hawaii Opera Theatre and the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble. Training highlights include work at Oberlin's Baroque Performance Institute, the role of Cherubino with the Studio Lirico in Italy, and as a finalist in the Carmel Music Society 2006 Vocal Competition.

She has worked locally as section leader at All Saints Episcopal Church Choir in Carmel-by-the-Sea, soloist at Church in the Forest in Pebble Beach and Pacific Coast Church in Pacific Grove, as conductor of the Calvary Chapel's Easter Choir, and the Monterey Bay Charter School Children's Choir. Heidi sings with the Carmel Bach Festival Chorus, and recent solo work includes appearances with the Monterey Symphony, Puccini and Mozart programs with Sand City Opera Company, and resident soloist at First Church of Christ Scientist in Monterey. Heidi teaches piano and voice at the Van der Veer Music and Performing Arts Studio.

Born in Siberia in 1950, where Natasha Tsyvinskaia's German father had moved the family in order to escape the Stalinist regime, she returned to Saratov on the Volga River and attended music school as a young girl, and later music college. Natasha then attended The Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music (Kiev Conservatory), Ukrainian state institution of higher music education, and graduated in 1976. She taught and conducted sacred choral music in Saratov until 2001, when she immigrated to the U.S., and since 2002 has been the organist at the First Church of Christ Scientist in Monterey.

Originally from Monterey, Hart Smith has worked extensively as a professional studio musician in New York and Los Angeles in both commercial and classical idioms. Following a four-year stint with the Disneyland Staff Band, he spent eleven years touring widely throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan, as a member of the Toshiko Akiyoshi New York Jazz Orchestra.
In 1964 Hart won first place in the Young Artists Awards Competition on French Horn and performed Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 3 with the Monterey County Symphony. He later studied with Phillip Lespina, principal trombone with the San Francisco Symphony and Opera.
Hart teaches brass, privately, and at Stevenson School in Pebble Beach.