Tribute to Harrison Cole

The former Director of Music and Fellow Emeritus of Trinity, Stephen Layton, has paid tribute to former Organ Scholar and Trinity alumnus Harrison Cole. 

The death of Harrison Cole at the age of 25 has brought profound sadness to Trinity. In his passing, we have lost a musician of rare talent, a scholar with wide-ranging interests, and a friend who was quietly important to the life of the College.

I remember clearly the first time I heard Harrison play. He arrived at Trinity as a teenager and sat down at the Steinway in Chapel. He performed Percy Grainger’s Ramble on the Last Love Duet in Der Rosenkavalier with a freedom and assurance that were striking in someone so young. It was one of those moments when a musician’s future becomes apparent in a single performance. Even then, there was in his playing an instinctive understanding of how music works and how it speaks.

Music remained central to Harrison’s life, and Beethoven was especially important to him. As an undergraduate he returned often to the piano sonatas, bringing friends and colleagues together to play them. Alongside this, he read widely in English and European literature and took a serious interest in philosophy. He moved easily between music and ideas, treating both with the same seriousness.

Harrison was modest in manner and generous with his time. He supported fellow students and younger musicians without drawing attention to himself. He gave help freely, whether accompanying, advising, or encouraging others in rehearsal and performance.

Those who worked with him will remember what happened when he played. At the piano or the organ, he had a way of bringing others with him. When he was at the organ and the choir began to sing, the music changed in character. It became more immediate and more alive. His playing did not sit alongside others; it shaped what they did. In performance, he enabled those around him to play and sing with greater confidence and focus.

Harrison’s presence had a clear effect on the musical life of the College during the years of the pandemic and afterwards. He was often at the centre of activity, not by position but by involvement. He helped sustain musical work at a time when it was fragile, and encouraged others to keep it going.

We are fortunate that some record of his work remains, including the filmed performance of Duruflé’s Requiem at Saint-Eustache in Paris. It shows him in the act of making music at the highest level, attentive to detail and fully engaged with those performing alongside him. His rapidly developing music career had seen him performing internationally to unsurprising acclaim.

His life was short. Yet in that time, he had a strong influence on the musical life of Trinity, on all those who worked with him and on the worshipping life of the Chapel. He will be remembered with lasting gratitude and deep affection.

Stephen Layton.