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 MTU Cork School of Music.
“The teacher I learnt the most from was John Williams, because of his
open minded attitude to all kinds of music and his encouragement of
becoming an all round musician, with special emphasis on developing
sight reading and ensemble work.
Teaching is a kind of catalyst for both the student and the teacher
to examine things in a way that they wouldn’t normally do. It is
good for students to take responsibility for the way they play
something and to explain why they do it that way. Music is about
finding a way of experiencing that music yourself in a way that you
can then transmit to other people. You can’t experience music by
simply doing what someone else tells you to do.
My biggest achievements are:
Founding the Classical Guitar Programme in the MTU Cork School of
Music.
Performing with the Irish Guitar Quartet. www.irishguitarquartet.com
Bringing John Williams to teach and perform in Cork.
My favourite performers are:
Jason Vieaux, guitar
John Williams, guitar
Stephen Hough, piano
Bob James, jazz piano
If I had to choose a humanitarian project would be to encourage governments worldwide to stimulate ingenuity to combat climate change by dramatically increasing spending on research and development.
I would bring “John Williams plays Spanish Music”, “Jordi Savall, Le Concert des Nations: Bach – Brandenburg Concertos” and “Fourplay, Fourplay” on a deserted island.”