The Irish Guitar Quartet

Ireland's leading guitar quartet

BIOGRAPHIES

JERRY CREEDON
The lrish guitarist JERRY CREEDON was born in Cork and has studied guitar from a young age. After graduating from University College, Cork, he studied with the famed German guitarist Siegfried Behrend in Germany; a Spanish Government Scholarship enabled him to study at the Andres Segovia Summer School in Santiago de Compostela; the Irish Arts Council grant-aided him to attend master classes given by world-famous virtuoso John Williams in Cordoba. Jerry Creedon is a Lecturer of Classical Guitar and founder of the Classical Guitar Studies Programme (since 1998) at the state-of-the-art CIT Cork School of Music. He has attracted some of the World’s most famous guitarists to perform and teach at the CIT Cork School of Music including John Williams, The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Xue Fei Yang, Roland Dyens, Fabio Zanon, Craig Ogden, David Leisner, Christoph Jaggin, Jacob Lindberg and William Carter. Jerry is an experienced musician and has performed in Ireland, Germany and Spain, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. He has appeared with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles and has his own Jazz Ensemble with which he performs at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. He has performed at the National Concert Hall, Universities, and numerous Festivals. Jerry has recorded CDs of music by Sanz, Pujol and Villa-Lobos and has recently formed the highly acclaimed Irish Guitar Quartet. He recently performed on the film score to Paul Mercier’s “Pursuit”.

DAVID KEATING
DAVID KEATING is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, where he studied with the acclaimed guitarist Craig Ogden, and was awarded a First Class Honours MMus Degree in classi-cal guitar performance. Previously David studied in Dublin with John Feeley and in Cork with Jerry Creedon. He achieved a First Class Honours degree at the CIT Cork School of Music, where he now teaches classical guitar. He has won many music prizes in Ireland including the John Vallery Memorial Prize in the Irish Free-masons Young Musician of the Year Competition, the CSM Senior Recital Competition (adjudicated by Alan Smale - Former Leader of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra), and the Feis Ceoil Cup and Gold Medal for Classical Guitar Performance. David performs extensively around Ireland and the UK, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. 2015/2016 has seen him perform Concertos with the London based Angel Orchestra, a performance of Rodrigo’s iconic Concierto de Aranjuez, with Wilmslow Sym-phony Orchestra, and solo recitals for Cromer Music Evenings and Adur Arts Forum. In addition, he recently performed Rodrigo’s guitar concerto with Sheffield Symphony Orchestra and was featured soloist with the Lancashire Chamber Orchestra in November 2017. Upcoming concerts in 2019 include Irish dates with Fandango Guitar Duo, and the Irish Guitar Quartet, as well as solo recitals at Salamanca Arts Centre and Mona Museum, Australia. As a chamber musician, David currently plays with the Irish Guitar Quartet, Fandango Guitar Duo, and recently toured with the Irish Tenor Finbar Wright. David plays a 2018 Greg Smallman guitar, and gratefully acknowledges support from Music Network Ireland.


COLIN MCLEAN
COLIN MCLEAN is one of Ireland’s leading Classical Guitarists. He has studied with some of the most prestigious teachers including Jerry Creedon, Fabio Zanon and Tilman Hoppstock. He has received master classes from Paul Gregory, David Leisner, Magnus Anderson and Craig Ogden. Some of his achievements include winning Feis Maitiu two years running for solo Classical Guitar and being the first ever guitarist to win the Senior Recital Competition in the CIT Cork School of Music. He has an Honours Degree and an Honours Masters from the CIT Cork School of Music, which he completed with the great virtuoso Fabio Zanon.
Recently Colin has formed his own Latin Trio. “The Colin McLean Latin Trio” perform a mix of South American and Spanish guitar music which is influenced by great artists including Rodrigo y Gabriela, Oscar Lopez and Luis Villegas.


AENGUS KIRAKOWSKI
AENGUS KIRAKOWSKI is a Cork-born guitarist and music educator. Beginning his studies at UCC, he then furthered his studies in musical performance at the CIT Cork School of Music. Aengus has participated in master classes with international names such as Johann Fostier, Remi Boucher, Xuefei Yang and Arturo Tallini in various locations around the world.
After spending a year at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, studying with Estonian virtuoso Heiki Matlik, Aengus then completed his studies with Jerry Creedon in Cork. As a classical guitarist Aengus has performed at the RDS, as well as Musgrave Park, the City Hall, and participated in the Cork Jazz Festival. However, Aengus has also presented his views on the current state of music and education to the International Society for Music Education, as well as to the Society for Music Education in Ireland.
Recently awarded an MA in Digital Arts and Humanities at UCC for his research into music education, Aengus is also currently involved in various outreach projects involving other art forms - collaborating on soundtracks for up-and-coming podcasts, as well as performing his own arrangements of Irish traditional melodies and songs for The Music and Poetry of 1916.