Gregory Harrington

Born in Dublin and based in New York City, violinist Gregory Harrington is re- defining the classical virtuoso for the 21st century. His unique ability to transform popular jazz, rock and pop music into brand new violin concert pieces along with his interpretations of the classical repertoire has enthralled audiences around the world. As noted by critics, Mr. Harrington juxtaposes Bach and Bob Dylan, Beethoven and Leonard Cohen, Piazzolla and Johnny Cash to staggering effect. As a performer/arranger with orchestra or his performing groups, Harrington’s cross-cultural and wide-reaching appeal has brought him to perform for Presidents and Vice Presidents, celebrities, heads of state, the United Nations and millions of music fans around the globe.

He has toured all over the world as soloist with many orchestras ranging from the San Diego Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Mexico City Philharmonic, RTE Concert Orchestra and the Janacek Philharmonic under Thomas Wilkins, Robert Houlihan, Mariusz Smolij and Mark Shapiro amongst others. He has per- formed in major concert halls and has given numerous solo performances in Carnegie Hall to the Royal Festival Hall and as far afield as the National Perform- ing arts Center in Beijing. He has premiered concerti and solo works by such dis- tinguished contemporary composers as James MacMillan, Steve Gerber, Meira Warshauer, Jorge Sosa, Ian Wilson and Derek Ball amongst others including the North American premiere of Donnacha Dennehy’s Concerto for violin and orches- tra with the Mexico City Philharmonic. His recital tours include extensive con- certs through Asia, The Far East, New Zealand and South America and his numer- ous musical collaborations have encompassed performances with the Emerson String quartet to iconic irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard. Today, Harrington is one of Ireland's most recognized artists, having appeared on radio, tv and podcasts all over the globe and was invited by NBC LIVE to open the St Patricks Day Pa- rade on 5th Avenue in New York. In the sporting realm he has performed national anthems for iconic sports teams and stadiums for the NFL and NBA amongst oth- ers including including the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field to the Irish Rug- by team at Soldier Field.

Harrington founded Estile Records, his own independent music label in 2006, and has just released his fourth album to commercial and critical acclaim. His last re- lease of solo Bach "Bach: Transcriptions and Variations” (2014) was the highest rising entry into the Billboard Classical Charts for an independent label. His fourth album "Without You", was released in June 2019 and comprises 11 emotion- ally charged tracks of reimagined pop and jazz love songs for jazz quartet. On stage, his transcriptions of iconic songwriters, classical masterworks and film score greats have all received acclaim in performance and on recordings. In 2020, he will release a recording of Philip Glass’ music with the Janacek Philharmonic and conductor Mark Shapiro. This CD will include his own arrangement of the “Hours Suite” maintaining that age-old violinistic tradition of writing virtuoso transcriptions along with the Violin Concerto No. 2 "American Four Seasons”.

Harrington received a bachelor’s degree in International Commerce and Spanish literature from University College Dublin and his Masters in Music from the American College Dublin. He holds performance diplomas in music from both the Guildhall School of Music in London and Mannes College of Music in New York City and he is also a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. His principle teachers have been Kevin Kiely, Marat Bisengaliev, Sally Thomas and the late Erick Friedman. An advocate for culture, education and cancer research, Harrington devotes his time outside performances to fundraising in aid of cancer research and is an Ambassador for the Crumlin Medical Research Fund.

He performs on a 2007 Stefan-Peter Greiner violin.