Setting the Right Tone
Violinist Gregory Harrington doesn’t just like watches – he loves them. “It’s amazing how they grow on you” he says as he sits down with Ac Magazine to talk style, where he finds his confidence and the importance of moving an audience.
BY GAVIN MANLEY
“It’s so hard to name a favorite” Harrington says “but it’s probably TAG Heuer’s Monaco. Steve McQueen wore that watch in the legendary film, Le Mans and it has that classic, timeless quality which I love – perfect for a music video that will live on for a while.”
“The beauty of music is that there’s no alphabet – there’s no universal language that you need to know to appreciate it” he says. “Your job as a performer is like that of an interpreter in a sense – understanding a piece of music, making it your own and taking your audience on a journey so you can really move them to feel intensely” he says.
Equally for Harrington, looking good is as important as the way he sounds. “It doesn’t need to cost a lot – it’s an attitude as much as anything else. I think style is always about elegant simplicity and how you pull that off as a complete look.”
“I have lots of Kenneth Cole’s shoes – Monk Straps or Cap Toe Oxfords for formal
occasions as well as Chelsea boots when you want something more casual” he says
about the pieces that help him define his style, irrespective of the occasion. Oliver
Peoples eyewear is a firm favorite too, especially the ‘Jon Jon’ style which for Harrington
captures “the aesthetic of Hollywood in the forties but still feels quite contemporary
today.”
“There was always music at home” Harrington says on how he got started, “but I can remember clearly, at about the age of four watching a string quartet perform at the Dublin Horse Show and tugging on my mother’s arm as I pointed at the violin saying, ‘I want to play that’. Within weeks, I was enrolled at the Royal Irish Academy.”
Now in his forties, Harrington has performed for presidents and dignitaries, at sold out stadia in front of eighty thousand people and still finds the time to teach and record. His latest album, ‘Glass Hour’ debuted at number three in the Classical Billboard Charts.
“The more I look back on it, it’s quite a unique relationship that I have with the violin – it’s never been just an instrument for me – it’s always been an extension of what I wanted to say. Articulate and disarmingly self-deprecating one-on-one, Harrington is quick to point out that confidence in the public arena did not come easily to him. It’s something that he has had to work on relentlessly and often comes down to rigorous preparation.
“From that very first moment when you walk on stage – you know, head held high, to the way you speak to your audience and of course the audio presentation itself – you have to think about it as a complete package” Harrington says about achieving that “shoulders-back air of confidence”.
Putting the effort into the subtle details, that then allow him to own that six-by-four feet platform or stage could be as simple as sporting the Tiffany Cufflinks that belonged to his father before he passed. “There’s a nice story of connectivity there” he says. “I was performing with the San Diego Symphony at the Salk Institute in La Jolla and by chance ended up having a fascinating lunch with Francoise Gilot (Paloma Picasso’s mother). We had such a wonderfully inspiring conversation about art, music and the canvas of life so when it came to buying a gift for my Dad, Tiffany’s Paloma Picasso cufflinks made perfect sense.”
Like many performing artists that rely on revenue from live performances, Harrington’s income took a hit almost overnight with the onset of the pandemic. Ever thankful that he was able to keep his head “just above water” by teaching violin on Zoom, the past two years also brought about a new opportunity to capitalize on his unique skillset.
“It was something that I had been thinking about for a while, even before the pandemic. I’m at the stage now where I can speak comfortably to three thousand people and everything slows down, so that my demeanor and presentation on stage is relaxed and quite at ease” he says.
“I wanted to take all of that experience – of being on the global stage, from large arenas to appearing live on the BBC or NBC and help others present the best version of themselves in a public setting.”
This led Harrington to develop keynotes as a speaker and he now consults with CEOs, C-suite executives “and generally anyone on the art of presenting to an audience in a very teachable way” he says.
Between performing, speaking engagements, recording a new album and teaching violin, Harrington is kept pretty busy at the moment but it’s the prospect of more theaters reopening and the return of audiences en masse that is really exciting for him in 2022.
“I played my first live performance last September, after an absence of almost two years. It was special for many reasons but most notably because it marked the 20th Anniversary of 9/11” he says. His performance of ‘The Phoenix’ by Carl Corcoran which took place on the 80th floor of the new World Trade Center, was for Harrington “a fitting tribute to all of those involved in rebuilding on this iconic site.”
Originally published in the Winter 2022 issue of Ac Magazine (The Accessories Council).
