Damien Kelly
Irish guitarist Damien Kelly made his first major breakthrough in the Irish classical music scene with his debut EP “Jolt” in collaboration with composer Ciarán Farrell. It went straight to number one in the Irish iTunes classical chart in 2011. In 2012 he released a full-length album “New Frontiers” under the same collaboration, which is frequently played on national radio. Damien has performed as a soloist at Kings College, Cambridge, the Irish Embassy, London, the American Irish Historical Society, NYC and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. He has won national competitions in Ireland including the Senior Guitar and Contemporary Music Centre competitions at the Feis Ceoil. He has taught at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Dundalk Institute of Technology and currently is the Music Department Head at the Smith School NYC. He also teaches at Church Street School for Music and Art, New Song Studio and Ezra Guitar.
He completed a BA in Applied Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology in 2009 while studying with Marion Hyland at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and a MMus in performance in 2010 studying with Dr. John Feeley at the DIT Conservatory of Music. In 2014 he was awarded a scholarship by Manhattan School of Music to take part in their professional studies program, where he studied with Mark Delpriora. Upon finishing his studies at Manhattan School of Music he was awarded the Segovia Augustine Award of Excellence, given to one graduating guitarist each year.
