While His Guitar Gently Weeps

Morning has broken…

n the right hands, the humble guitar can cover pretty much every emotional punch you could hope to feel…

It’s something that anyone who has listened to John Feeley will understand.

The Ballinasloe-born lad was recognised as one of Europe’s best electric guitarists at the tender age of 17, heading to the USA after graduating Trinity College Dublin to study with such greats as Oscar Ghiglia, Ángel Romero and David Russell before completing a master’s degree at Queens College in New York.

Moving into teaching with a post at Memphis State University, Feeley returned home to Dublin’s DIT Conservatory of Music And Drama, teaching a new generation of acclaimed classical guitarists, including Redmond O’Toole, Michael O’Toole and Alec O’Leary.

And just to prove his passion for his subject, Feeley also completed a doctorate at Maynooth University, a major thesis in three volumes entitled Classical Guitar Music by Irish Composers: Performing Editions And Critical Commentary.

So, when the lad brings his guitar to The Whale on Sunday, May 19th for an afternoon performance, young Feeley brings a lifetime of music with him.

Before his Greystones debut though, we asked ‘Ireland’s leading classical guitarist’ (The Washington Post) where the music came from, and what are the recordings that can still send him…

My older brother bought a guitar and a pellet gun for a few pounds when I was 13 or so. I started playing the guitar, self-taught.

I remember that the strings were so high of the fretboard that one of my fingers bled.

Within a month or so I joined a local group and played with them through secondary school. After a few weeks, I progressed from being the rhythm guitarist to being lead guitarist. We were called various names – one that I can’t ever forget being The Pregnant Rollerskate. However, we had to change that to The Rock Machine as promoters didn’t like that last name.

When I moved to Dublin, studying engineering first, I heard John Williams in concert and was so impressed that the guitar could be played like this. So I started to teach myself classical. I also changed to studying music in Trinity College. After graduating from Trinity I went to New York to do postgraduate. My first job was teaching in Memphis State university (for two years) after which I was offered a job in the College of Music, Dublin (part of the DIT later).

Music has always been at the centre of my life…

The Jimi Hendrix Experience Purple Haze
The Are You Experienced? album was a big part of those early years. With the teenage band we used to play Hey Joe, which didn’t really feature guitar solos, but what Jimi did play was very tasteful. Then Purple Haze came along, which was a bit wilder and more futuristic. Still sounds that way…

Julian Bream Bagatelles
Movement 1 of the 5 Bagatelles by William Walton played by Julian Bream on his recording 20th Century Guitar, Vol. 1 is just perfection. Bream’s performance in the world premiere of this piece is full of colour and brilliance.

Julian Bream Nocturnal: Passacaglia
Julian Bream’s gave a remarkable performance of the Nocturnal by Benjamin Britten, one of the greatest guitar works of the 20th century, again a world premiere. This work is a theme and variations in reverse – the theme comes at the end. He shows his propensity for colour again and a great sense of unity in the different variations.

John Williams Guitar Concerto No.1 In A Major, Op. 30
By Mauro Giuliani. John Williams gives a masterful and technically brilliant performance in his first recording of this piece.

Henryk Schering Bach’s Chaconne
I’ve always felt that Schering had such a wonderful understanding of this music, particularly of it’s internal voice-leading.

David Oistrakh Tcahikovsky: Violin Concerto in D
This piece captured my imagination early on and got me hooked on classical music.

You can find out more about John Feeley on his website here, and grab your ticket for Sunday, May 19th at 4pm in The Whale right here.