THE TROUBLE NOTES

A progressive world folk trio and GG festival favourites, The Trouble Notes will be blowing audiences away this summer for the third year running!

The Trouble Notes story begins when Bennet moved from Indiana to New York City and finally began took ownership of his prodigious musical gifts. At the age of four, he began playing violin, and by 15 he was classically trained performing with orchestras and wowing audiences in competitions. The problem was that classical music bored him. Instead of drilling musical exercises, he began to devote his practice time to playing along to the television and the radio. Applying schooled technique with imagination in a contemporary music or cultural setting would wonderfully prefigure the spirit imbuing The Trouble Notes.

In New York, he found himself longing for a creative outlet to medicate his soul while it felt numbed by Wall Street. He found himself often alone on the band of the East River, filling his spirit, improvising from his heart. He also found solace in the demand for violin in the bustling and diverse music scene.

Stripping away the flash and distraction of a career in finance, Bennet began to heed an inner call to pursue a form of international diplomacy. He began to realize that call was coming from his violin—his music was meant to spread healing and joy worldwide. “It all happened gradually, there are little whispers, and then one day you wake up and say ‘screw it,’” he reveals. “Something emotional happens, and what you’ve been thinking about for months becomes a reality.”

By the time Bennet decided to cut ties and move to London, he already earned his bones on the streets of New York. “If you can work on the streets of New York, you can work anywhere. There, you’re lucky to get five seconds of anyone’s time. That where I learned about showmanship, dynamics, energetic performance, and how to speak to audiences,” he recalls. Soon the adventure began: London, Ireland, Prague, and, finally, Berlin where The Trouble Notes have a home, friends and girlfriends, and a dedicated fanbase.

Along the way in this journey, something special happened: one man’s quest became a cultural movement. In London, after a transcendent jam in Hyde Park, Bennet found a creative and ideological soulmate in percussionist Oliver Maguire. His command of hip-hop and beats and traditional rhythms, and gifts for intuiting the energy of the crowd has been crucial to shaping the group’s panoramic artistry. Upon meeting, Oliver packed up his life to become a seeker. The two found their missing comrade in Berlin. Guitarist Florian Eisenschmidt comes from the studio and rock band circuit. With The Trouble Notes, he predominantly plays nylon string guitar—an instrument suited to subtle fair such as classical and flamenco—propulsive urgency, capturing the dynamics and excitement of hard rock and psychedelic rock.

Speaker Bio

A progressive world folk trio and GG festival favourites, The Trouble Notes will be blowing audiences away this summer for the third year running!

The Trouble Notes story begins when Bennet moved from Indiana to New York City and finally began took ownership of his prodigious musical gifts. At the age of four, he began playing violin, and by 15 he was classically trained performing with orchestras and wowing audiences in competitions. The problem was that classical music bored him. Instead of drilling musical exercises, he began to devote his practice time to playing along to the television and the radio. Applying schooled technique with imagination in a contemporary music or cultural setting would wonderfully prefigure the spirit imbuing The Trouble Notes.

In New York, he found himself longing for a creative outlet to medicate his soul while it felt numbed by Wall Street. He found himself often alone on the band of the East River, filling his spirit, improvising from his heart. He also found solace in the demand for violin in the bustling and diverse music scene.

Stripping away the flash and distraction of a career in finance, Bennet began to heed an inner call to pursue a form of international diplomacy. He began to realize that call was coming from his violin—his music was meant to spread healing and joy worldwide. “It all happened gradually, there are little whispers, and then one day you wake up and say ‘screw it,’” he reveals. “Something emotional happens, and what you’ve been thinking about for months becomes a reality.”

By the time Bennet decided to cut ties and move to London, he already earned his bones on the streets of New York. “If you can work on the streets of New York, you can work anywhere. There, you’re lucky to get five seconds of anyone’s time. That where I learned about showmanship, dynamics, energetic performance, and how to speak to audiences,” he recalls. Soon the adventure began: London, Ireland, Prague, and, finally, Berlin where The Trouble Notes have a home, friends and girlfriends, and a dedicated fanbase.

Along the way in this journey, something special happened: one man’s quest became a cultural movement. In London, after a transcendent jam in Hyde Park, Bennet found a creative and ideological soulmate in percussionist Oliver Maguire. His command of hip-hop and beats and traditional rhythms, and gifts for intuiting the energy of the crowd has been crucial to shaping the group’s panoramic artistry. Upon meeting, Oliver packed up his life to become a seeker. The two found their missing comrade in Berlin. Guitarist Florian Eisenschmidt comes from the studio and rock band circuit. With The Trouble Notes, he predominantly plays nylon string guitar—an instrument suited to subtle fair such as classical and flamenco—propulsive urgency, capturing the dynamics and excitement of hard rock and psychedelic rock.

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