Jeff Donovan - Associate Director, Guitar, Double Bass

BA(Mus), Grad Dip Cont Ed, Grad Dip IT

Jeff Donovan graduated in guitar from the Canberra School of Music in 1981 after studies with Sadie Bishop. He undertook further study with Tim Kain in Canberra until 1984 and then under Jose Tomas in Alicante Spain from 1985 - 1986 with the help of a Jacobena Angliss Music Award. He returned to Australia in 1987 and worked as a freelance musician and teacher in Sydney as a member of the Bennelong Players and at the St George Institute and St Catherine's School. He has performed for various NSW Arts Councils and in master classes for Dagoberto Linares, Leo Brouwer and John Williams. He came to Wagga in 1989 to teach guitar and double bass at the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.

He performs regularly in and around Wagga both as soloist and chamber musician. He enjoys playing the wide repertoire that the guitar offers but feels a special affinity for Bach, music from Spain as well as Australian contemporary composers such as Philip Houghton (see recently performed works here). He performs on a hand-made Australian guitar by the Eugene Philp, who worked as an apprentice to Greg Smallman in the early nineties. Very sadly, Eugene died of cancer at the age of 40 in 1997.

He is the founder and music director of the Murrumbidgee String Orchestra. This is a community group that has gained a reputation as an innovative educational ensemble that performs regularly at the Farmers' Markets and the Food and Wine Festival as well as at its own concert in December every year. This concert usually presents a recently completed work for strings by an Australian composer as well as works by composers such as Bach, Mozart, Grieg and Holst (see recently performed works here). It has also had workshops with the Head of Strings at Sydney Conservatorium as well as with the Tankstream Quartet (now the Australian Quartet) and Max McBride from ANU School of Music.

Since 2004 he has been the President and Administrator of the Riverina Summer School for Strings. This annual week-long school in early January has grown to become one of the highlights of musical activity in the Rvierina, providing local and metropolitan players with a wonderful opportunity to meet and play together. It also produces the Sounds of Summer Concert Series presented by RSSS tutors which gives all the community the chance to enjoy top-class chamber music concerts throughout the whole week.