Kathleen Parlow

Kathleen Parlow
Kathleen Parlow in 1905
Background information
Birth name	Kathleen Parlow
Also known as	Lady of the Golden Bow
Born	1890
Origin	Canadian
Died	1963
Genres	Classical
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Violin
Associated acts	South Mountain Parlow Quartet, The Canadian Trio, Parlow String Quartet

Kathleen Parlow (September 20, 1890, Fort Calgary, Alberta — August 19, 1963, near Toronto, Ontario) was a child prodigy with her outstanding technique with a violin, which earned her the nickname "The lady of the golden bow". Although she left Canada at the age of four and did not permanently return until 1940, Parlow was sometimes billed as "The Canadian Violinist".

Parlow's mother, Minnie, took her to live in San Francisco when Kathleen was four years old. Minnie Parlow bought her daughter a half-sized violin in San Francisco, and Kathleen began receiving lessons from a cousin of hers who was a professional violin teacher, Conrad Coward. Her progress was very rapid with the instrument, and she soon began to receive lessons from a violin professor, Henry Holmes.

To become a top professional violinist and to begin a concert career, Parlow followed the normal route for North Americans and moved to Europe. Kathleen and her mother arrived in London on January 1, 1905. Upon attending a concert by Mischa Elman, the Parlows decided to seek out Elman's teacher, Leopold Auer. Minnie and Kathleen Parlow had arrived in London with $300 raised by their church in San Francisco, which was not sufficient to get them to St. Petersburg, where Auer was a professor. To pay the cost of travel, the Parlows obtained a loan from Lord Strathcona, the Canadian High Commissioner. The pair travelled to Russia, and in October 1906, Kathleen Parlow became the first foreigner to attend the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In her class of forty-five students, Parlow was the only female.

At 17, having spent a year at the conservatory, Parlow began to put on public performances. She gave solo performances in both St. Petersburg and Helsinki. Parlow and her mother had little money, and could not otherwise support themselves. Soon after, Kathleen Parlow made her professional debut in Berlin, and then began a tour of Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. In Norway she performed for King Haakon and Queen Maud, of whom she would become a favourite. There she also met Einar Bjørnson, a wealthy Norwegian (son of Nobel laureate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson) who would become her friend and patron. Bjørnson purchased for Parlow a Guarnerius del Gesù violin, made in 1735. The violin cost £2000 and had previously been owned by Viotti.