Doris Keogh

Doris Keogh
Born	Doris Cleary 16 April 1922 Dublin
Died	10 August 2012 London
Nationality	Irish
Known for	Flute teacher

Name (16 April 1922–115), notability

Biography

Doris Cleary was born in Dublin on 16 April 1922 to Victor-Louis Cleary, and Mary Elizabeth Hughes. Her father was a professional flute player based in Rathgar, Dublin. Keogh spent four years living with her grandparents in Howth after her mother died. She grew up mostly in Adelaide Road, Dublin. Her father taught her the flute before she took up working with Thomas Brown. She went on to study harmony with Dr JJ O’Reilly and piano with Josephine Reidy at the Municipal School of Music on top of her flute studies with Col Frederick Sauerzweig. Keogh later said that her ballet classes in the Abbey School of Ballet helped her playing as it improved and supported her posture.

Keogh's first public performance came when she was fourteen and she accompanied her aunt Sylvia Dormer at a recital in the Mariner's Church, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Keogh later came first with her solo flute performance at the 1939 Dublin Feis Ceoil. From 1944 Keogh played with RÉ Orchestra and from 1948 RÉ Symphony Orchestra and the RÉ Light Orchestra. She was irritated that women members were paid less than the men and campaigned for pay equality. In the 1950s she focused on raising her family but returned increasingly to work as a freelance musician from the 1960s. She also taught flute at the Royal Irish Academy of Music from 1969.

In 1941 Keogh was a founder member of the Dublin Orchestral Players. She founded the group Capriol Consort in 1970 which gave performances of music, dance and song from the European twelfth to seventeenth centuries in period costume. With this group she toured Italy in 1976. The group included many of her students who were becoming dominant in the music scene. Many won the various Arts council scholarships available and were becoming notable in Dublin music competitions. She invited players such as James Galway and Pedro Meversdorf to teach in Dublin. By 1988 when Keogh was given a millennium award, she was considered one of the most influential flute teachers in the field. She was honoured in 1991 by a group of students who launched the Doris Keogh Trust Fund at a concert in the National Concert Hall. The fund is administered by the Arts Council and is given every other year to an Irish flute or recorder player. Keogh retired from RIAM in 1993. She has been awarded an honorary fellowship. She continued teaching with the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama as well as privately. Keogh died in London on 10 August 2012.

Private life

She met her husband Val Keogh at the Municipal School of Music. He was a photographer and percussionist, whom she married in 1947. He later became the manager of the RÉ Symphony Orchestra. They lived in Howth and had five children.