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In Memoriam
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In memoriam for Gwen Thompson-Robinow, who passed away in December 2025.
It is with profound sadness that the Township Community Arts Council acknowledges the recent passing of Gwen Thompson-Robinow.
As a founding member of our arts organization, Gwen brought her many years knowledge and experience, as well as her vivacious and larger-than-life approach to everything she ever did.
Gwen’s life-long passion for music and teaching brought her the Order of Canada in 2003. Over the years, she shared her love of music with students of the Vancouver Academy of Music, the University of Western Ontario and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. An accomplished violinist who studied under Josef Gingold and Jascha Heifetz, Gwen authored “The Embodied Violinist” as yet another way of sharing her musical expertise.
In 2014, Gwen shared a dream to create a sustainable program that would support and encourage the musical aspirations of young people. And thus was the inception of TCAC’s Youth Mentorship Program. Realizing that funding would be a challenge, Gwen came up with the idea of staging a concert to raise money. And so began the idea of an annual concert that would be called Township Classics. Originally, envisioned as one concert, it quickly became apparent that a series would be needed. Volunteers and fellow musicians were eager to help and, while there was no shortage of challenges, Gwen prevailed; overcoming one obstacle after another as she sought to realize her dream. Response from the community was immediately overwhelming!
Today, Township Classics, under the leadership of Christi Meyers, continues at CFB Esquimalt’s Wardroom. Now as then, Township Classics draws sell-out crowds of music lovers monthly from September to March each year. These concerts continue Gwen’s legacy by funding the TCAC Youth Mentorship Program, currently with 10 students and mentors under the leadership of Kelly Montgomery and Marianne Ing.
It was Gwen’s vision and passion for music and young people that have made Township Classics and TCAC Youth Mentorship Program such incredible successes. Her infectious enthusiasm and drive have been an inspiration to all of us at the Township Community Arts Council. We will miss that special twinkle in her eye as she so masterfully performed before years of audiences or spoke of the importance of music education.
On behalf of music lovers in our Community and everyone at the Township Community Arts Council, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Gwen’s ever-supportive husband and love of her life, Oliver Robinow, and the rest of the Robinow family.
It is with profound sadness that the Township Community Arts Council acknowledges the recent passing of Gwen Thompson-Robinow.
As a founding member of our arts organization, Gwen brought her many years knowledge and experience, as well as her vivacious and larger-than-life approach to everything she ever did.
Gwen’s life-long passion for music and teaching brought her the Order of Canada in 2003. Over the years, she shared her love of music with students of the Vancouver Academy of Music, the University of Western Ontario and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. An accomplished violinist who studied under Josef Gingold and Jascha Heifetz, Gwen authored “The Embodied Violinist” as yet another way of sharing her musical expertise.
In 2014, Gwen shared a dream to create a sustainable program that would support and encourage the musical aspirations of young people. And thus was the inception of TCAC’s Youth Mentorship Program. Realizing that funding would be a challenge, Gwen came up with the idea of staging a concert to raise money. And so began the idea of an annual concert that would be called Township Classics. Originally, envisioned as one concert, it quickly became apparent that a series would be needed. Volunteers and fellow musicians were eager to help and, while there was no shortage of challenges, Gwen prevailed; overcoming one obstacle after another as she sought to realize her dream. Response from the community was immediately overwhelming!
Today, Township Classics, under the leadership of Christi Meyers, continues at CFB Esquimalt’s Wardroom. Now as then, Township Classics draws sell-out crowds of music lovers monthly from September to March each year. These concerts continue Gwen’s legacy by funding the TCAC Youth Mentorship Program, currently with 10 students and mentors under the leadership of Kelly Montgomery and Marianne Ing.
It was Gwen’s vision and passion for music and young people that have made Township Classics and TCAC Youth Mentorship Program such incredible successes. Her infectious enthusiasm and drive have been an inspiration to all of us at the Township Community Arts Council. We will miss that special twinkle in her eye as she so masterfully performed before years of audiences or spoke of the importance of music education.
On behalf of music lovers in our Community and everyone at the Township Community Arts Council, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Gwen’s ever-supportive husband and love of her life, Oliver Robinow, and the rest of the Robinow family.
Gwen, enjoying the Township Classics concert for Rick Underwood on September 21, 2025.
Gwen Thompson-Robinow, Canadian violinist and member of the Order of Canada, has enjoyed a more than fifty- year career as 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 highly acclaimed CDs. Viveza toured throughout Canada, the United States, and Korea.
Her interest in and commitment to new music led her to commission Vancouver composer Stephen Chatman to write a work for violin and cello, “From Pent-up Aching Rivers”, which had its premiere in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall.
Since moving to Esquimalt B.C. Ms. Thompson-Robinow has continued performing, giving master classes and workshops, as well as mentoring a select number of talented violinists. As a founding board member of the Township Community Arts Council, she created “Township Classics”, a series earmarked to raise funds for a Youth Mentorship Program. It is an innovative program that provides young instrumentalists and singers with opportunities to broaden their musical experience.
Ms. Thompson-Robinow’s highly successful book, “The Embodied Violinist: Teaching Violin with Passion and Practicality” is a distillation of violinistic techniques and musical philosophies which she inherited from her teachers and mentors, focused and refined through her own experience. The book continues to be a reliable resource be teachers who want to build their teaching on a compelling historical foundation.
Ms. Thompson-Robinow is supported in her efforts and passions by her husband, Dr. Oliver Robinow and their two adult children Richard and Elizabeth.