John Feeley was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland. He began on electric guitar in popular music and was recognized as one of Europe’s best electric guitarists by age 17, before graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a first-class degree in music. He then moved to the United States to study classical guitar with Oscar Ghiglia, Angel Romero and David Russell, completing a master’s degree at Queens College, City University of New York, and later taught at Memphis State University, Tennessee. In 2006 he completed a doctorate at Maynooth University with a thesis on classical guitar music by Irish composers. He now teaches at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama in Dublin.

Feeley’s students include all current members of the Dublin Guitar Quartet, and composers Benjamin Dwyer, Ciarán Farrell, David Fennessy and David Flynn all studied guitar with him and later wrote music for him. He has appeared as soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and won the Special Award for interpretation at the 1984 Mauro Giuliani competition in Italy.

Sources:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l3sSVrnPOY (video description, Siccas Guitars)