Gwen Thompson-Robinow, a Canadian violinist and recipient of the Order of Canada, has enjoyed a career of more than 50 years as a performer, educator, teacher, and coach. She has nurtured young musicians in her role as professor of violin at Western University, the University of British Columbia, the Vancouver Academy of Music, the University of Manitoba, the University of Victoria, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. She has performed, taught and mentored at summer festivals and string and chamber music workshops across Canada and in the United States. She has acted as concertmaster of Orchestra London, the CBC Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Victoria Symphony, as well as leading the Baroque Strings of Vancouver. She has recorded for CBC radio and television, both as soloist and chamber player. Her signature group, Viveza, released five internationally successful CDs, and toured throughout Canada, the United States, and Korea. She commissioned Vancouver composer Stephen Chatman to write “From Pent-up Aching Rivers," a work for violin and cello, which premiered in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall.

Since moving to Esquimalt, BC, Ms. Thompson-Robinow has continued performing, giving master classes and workshops, and mentoring a select number of talented violinists. Still active in the community as a board member of the Township Community Arts Council, she presents a series of six house concerts, “Township Classics,” at the Wardroom, CFB Esquimalt, from September through February. This series raises funds for the Youth Mentorship Program, an innovative program that provides young instrumentalists and singers with opportunities to broaden their musical experience.

Ms. Thompson-Robinow’s book, The Embodied Violinist: Teaching Violin with Passion and Practicality, is available for preorder now with a projected release date of December 2017. The book presents a distillation of the violinistic techniques and musical philosophies that she inherited from her teachers and mentors, and that she has since focused and refined through her own experience. It provides a compelling historical foundation for every teacher of the violin.  

Ms. Thompson-Robinow is supported in her efforts and passions by her husband, Dr. Oliver Robinow, and their two children, Richard and Elizabeth.