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 and Richard Charlton. He very much enjoys performing in a duo format with Harold Gretton..