Biography
Praised for his “impeccable tone” and performances filled “with passion from the start to the end,” Jonathan Fitzgerald is quickly gaining recognition as a performer and pedagogue. With a passion for twentieth and twenty-first century music, Jonathan seeks to make non-tonal compositions more accessible to the public through performances, masterclasses, and educational workshops and lectures. Most recently these have included engagements for the Great Lakes Guitar Society, Rochester Guitar Club, Buffalo State College, Syracuse University, Roberts Wesleyan College, the Musicales Concert Series, and radio performances for WXXI and WCNY. He has numerous competition prizes to his credit, including the Great Lakes International Guitar Competition, in which he was a prize-winning finalist and winner of the “Audience Choice” award.
In addition to performing, Jonathan is a dedicated pedagogue, currently serving on the faculty of Scotch College in Swanbourne, Australia. Previously he has held faculty positions at Roberts Wesleyan College, the Eastman Community Music School, the Cleveland Music School Settlement, and the Fairmount Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. In addition to applied lessons, he has taught The History and Literature of the Guitar, Guitar Pedagogy, Fretboard Harmony, and Guitar Chamber Music to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral guitar majors at the Eastman School of Music, and Dalcroze Eurhythmics at Horizon Montessori School and the Fairmount Center for the Arts.
Jonathan earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree (presently ABD) at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied under the guidance of Dr. Nicholas Goluses and served as his teaching assistant. In addition to guitar studies, he earned an academic minor in Historical Performance Practice with world renowned lutenist and early music specialist Paul O’Dette. Jonathan began musical studies at the age of four in the Preparatory Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he stayed to earn Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with classical guitar virtuoso Jason Vieaux. As a student he performed in masterclasses for distinguished artists such as David Russell, Paul Galbraith, Raphaella Smits, Xufei Yang, Duo Melis, and many others.