Despite differing schedules, Kelly Downey and Gregory Harrington, a celebrated violinist, found a way to make things work.
Gregory Anthony Harrington, a celebrated solo violinist, had experienced years of unfulfilling relationships with women he said couldn’t understand his commitment to music. Kelly Cathleen Downey was also fed up with attempts at relationships: Dates, often two to three times a week, typically went nowhere.
The two decided to take a chance on each other after connecting on Bumble in the fall of 2019.
They agreed to meet in early December at Kaia Wine Bar on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where they talked nonstop about culture, travel, work and wine.
“Kelly was so comforting, interesting and beautiful, with such grace, that somewhere between my first and second of nine glasses of robust cabernet sauvignon, I knew I wanted to see her again,” said Mr. Harrington, 49.
Ms. Downey, 42, who has Irish heritage on her father’s side, said she liked Mr. Harrington’s Irish accent and thought he was cute. After they closed down the bar, they headed to the nearby Auction House bar, which they also closed down.
“I liked Greg right away because conversation flowed effortlessly, and it was fun talking about our Irish backgrounds,” said Ms. Downey, the senior vice president of communications for Shamin Abas, a public relations and experiential marketing company in New York.
Mr. Harrington, who was born in Dublin but has lived in New York City since 1999, recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of his solo debut at Carnegie Hall. In March, he performed for President Biden, members of Congress and Leo Varadkar, the former prime minister of Ireland, at the Capitol in Washington. He received a bachelor’s degree in international commerce with Spanish from University College Dublin, and a master’s in music from American College Dublin.
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