Meet Danny Goldman, Grace Kang Wollett, and Trevor Hale of Trio Kavanah

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danny Goldman, Grace Kang Wollett, and Trevor Hale.

Danny, Grace Kang, and Trevor, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We started out just playing music for fun. Grace and I (Danny) are in the Dallas Opera and knew of each other from both attending Juilliard. Trevor was a highly regarded pianist in the DFW area, and we decided to meet and play through some chamber music. The vibe and intensity during those first rehearsals (or I should say jam sessions) was like nothing we had experienced before.

So we decided to keep going: first, a few shows that we put on by ourselves for friends and family… churches and private homes. We started with a very basic website and utilized social media to tell our network about the concerts. The marketing led to inquiries from contractors, and before we knew it, we had a season built up. As we continued to network with different venues, ensembles, and musical entities, we discovered that Dallas has a major arts scene with a strong need for great chamber music.

We are continuing to offer new opportunities to engage audiences and spread the added value of great classical music. We have discovered that in this era, we have to be our own entrepreneurs. We not only perform on stage but handle all aspects of the business side.

Has it been a smooth road?
Honestly, it has been a relatively smooth road so far. We were greeted with surprising enthusiasm and help from the public and private. Positive feedback from audiences after our shows is very helpful in maintaining our drive and motivation. I would say the only difficult part has been juggling our full-time trio rehearsal and performance schedule with family and other performing ensembles. Time management has become essential!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Trio Kavanah – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We specialize in performing for the public. We start with the classical masterworks that were originally composed for violin, clarinet, and piano. Beyond that repertoire, we arrange great pieces that are for similar instrumentation (maybe oboe instead of clarinet or viola instead of violin). And then we even take great scores from movies, for example John Williams, and arrange medleys for encores or fun shows. But the core of our business is performing fine art chamber music.

We are known for giving energetic, convicted performances while balancing this seriousness with wit and camaraderie onstage. Our expansion will continue into creative ways to engage the audience. We can’t reveal too much yet, but we are working with different companies to bring modern technology into the concert hall… bringing audiences visually and aurally closer to the stage than ever before.

I think we are most proud of the hours we spend honing our craft, rehearsing these pieces (whether it’s a trio by Mozart or Schoenfeld) until we know them inside and out. We study the scores and try to bring to life what the composer intended. I would say that sets us apart from other performers. We treat each concert uniquely and we prepare with at least 10 separate rehearsals to prepare one show. Each rehearsal schedule is catered towards a specific audience and style of concert.

Our name, Kavanah, is actually a Hebrew word for the intention of the heart and spirit: we seek to imbue our music making and performances with this. And that helps guide us amidst all the other fray and noise: to devote the largest chunk of our efforts to playing music filled with meaning and expression. The rest of our effort is another item that separates as a performing ensemble: we are striving to look beyond the traditional concert experience and to find unique vessels to bring classical music to new audiences: exploring non-conventional venues and marketing towards a wider potential audience.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
We love the support for the arts in Dallas. And we love the people; they are so open to exploring new experiences: new food, new art, new music. We wouldn’t be doing well if it weren’t for the city’s arts scene (have you seen Dallas Arts District recently?) and the amazing people who live here.

The one part we dislike are the driving distances: but the silver lining is that we are being forced to think of creative ways around this… live-streaming concerts online, for example. I can’t say a whole lot more, but we’re working on bringing the concert hall to people at home who can’t make the live show because of distance or health. We want to bring classical music to everyone who wants to experience it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.triokavanah.com
• Phone: 917-445-2862
• Email: contact@triokavanah.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/triokavanah
• Twitter: twitter.com/triokavanah

Image Credit:
Lauren Bloom Photography

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