Doris Keogh

Doris Keogh (16 April 1922 – 10 August 2012) was an Irish flautist and flute teacher.

Biography Doris Keogh, née Cleary, was born in Dublin 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 J. J. O'Reilly and piano with Josephine Reidy at the Municipal School of Music (now the TU Dublin Conservatory) on top of her flute studies with Colonel 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 Mariner's Church, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin. Keogh later came first with her solo flute performance at the 1939 Dublin Feis Ceoil. From 1944, Keogh played with the Radio Éireann Orchestra and from 1948 Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra and the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra. She was irritated that women members were paid less than 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.

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 Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra. They lived in Howth and had five children.