Kieran's Story

Kieran Quinn

22 Years of Music

Kieran Quinn is a Sligo-based pianist, teacher and composer whose work spans live performance, piano teaching and youth music education.

For over 20 years Kieran has taught piano by ear - a distinctive method built on working out melodies, playing the chords to songs you love, and tackling the solos that make a player stand out. The philosophy: make it fun, make it relevant, make it exciting. Demand for lessons has grown steadily, and teaching now spans eight locations across Sligo, Roscommon and Dublin, alongside online tuition. Supported by a team of local teachers, the piano-by-ear method is delivered through a structured, progressive curriculum.

Kieran is also well known for hosting and producing the ever-popular Theme Night shows. For the past 15 years he has been committed to top-quality live entertainment, bringing together up to 100 musicians and performers at a time to delighted sold-out audiences in Sligo's Hawk's Well Theatre and Dublin's Vicar Street in 2019 and 2024.

The Theme Night Academy is the associated youth programme of the Theme Nights, which provides teenage musicians with a musical education and a platform to perform with their peers in a professional, safe and friendly environment. It encourages teenagers to explore music further in their own lives, and many graduates of the Academy have gone on to study and pursue careers in music.

Kieran has written, produced and released five albums and an EP: Not Just Black and White (2013), The Next One (2015), Melodic Reflection (2017, with Seamie O'Dowd), the Our Place EP (also 2017), and his solo piano album A Year of Wednesdays (2019). In 2021, he celebrated 10 years of Theme Nights with the first Theme Night album, How Can I Keep From Singing.

Kieran loves playing with others of all musical shapes and sizes, the less structure and the more possibility there is the better.

He enjoys getting the best out of others, showing them how much fun it can be to connect musically with their peers and an audience.

"It's not about how good you are, it's about how good it is for you"

Explore Kieran's Music