Katharine Parker (28 March 188628 March 1971) was an Australian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, perhaps best known for her piano piece "Down Longford Way". She was also an accomplished pianist and accompanist. Kitty Parker was born Catherine Parker at 'Parknook', Lake River, near Longford, Tasmania. Her mother was Florence Agnes Parker ée Leary her father was Erskine James Rainy Parker. Florence, the daughter of Joseph Leary M.P., was a superb pianist and gave many concerts. She made sure her daughters were musically trained. Kitty was the most successfully renowned. From 1904 to 1906, she studied for a diploma in Music in Melbourne. During the inaugural,

Australian Exhibition of Women's Work The first Australian Exhibition of Women's Work was a national exhibition held over thirty-nine days in 1907 in Melbourne, and in the seventh year of the country's Federation of Australia, Federation. The exhibition was a celebration of the creat ...

she won the Piano Solo Gold Medal. She travelled to London to study with

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and ...

, who had very high praise for her work and kept in touch with her for many years. Through Grainger, she met the English tenor Hubert Mortimer Eisdell, whom she married on 16 June 1910 at St Mark's Church, Hamilton Terrace, London. They had one son Michael (1912–1986). In 1911 she made her London concert début as a soloist. Her work consists mainly of songs for voice and piano and solo piano works. At least one of the latter (Nocturne in F-sharp minor) was published under the name "Kitty Parker". She died in Sydney on her 85th birthday, 28 March 1971. She has been championed by her compatriot the pianist Ian Munro, who has recorded some of her works and plays them in recital and has also written a biography of her.

References

1886 births 1971 deaths Australian women classical composers Musicians from Tasmania 20th-century Australian classical composers 20th-century Australian women musicians 20th-century Australian women composers {{composer-stub