Paul Harris interview: joining the dots

I start by asking where Harris' calling as a musician came from. He describes how, at the age of six, he acquired a grand piano in his bedroom without much explanation from his parents. They weren't musical, he says, and neither were there role models within the family. His father, a ‘hard-nosed businessman’, would probably have preferred him to follow a more worldly career. But the piano stayed and, in spite of Harris' liking for doodling rather than ‘proper practice’, he was supported. Some of his earliest compositions date from this doodling period.

His formative years as a musician came while attending Haberdashers' Boys' School in Hertfordshire. During his first concert at ‘Habs’, as a member of the school choral society, he sang Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb and Kodály's Te Deum. He enjoyed the experience so much he set his heart on a career in music. He joined the school's ‘amazing’ orchestra as soon as he could, and was soon playing Dvořák's ‘New World’.