Note: Laura Cortese will play the first set and Hanneke Cassel Trio will finish the evening.

Singer, songwriter, and fiddle player Laura Cortese grew up in San Francisco, studied at Berklee College of Music, and has become a vital presence in Boston’s folk-pop scene, releasing six albums since 2006 and working with Brittany and Natalie Haas, Jefferson Hamer, Aoife O’Donovan, Rose Cousins, Dirk Powell, and on her latest album, All In Always, a host of international musicians in Galicia, Sweden, and Quebec. "Ambition often follows talent,” says the Denver Post, and Laura “has an embarrassment of both. Her open-armed approach to her art reveals a determination to spread the word about folk music and dance without watering down their distinctiveness." The website Cover Lay Down calls her music “sublime,” declaring that it makes “the heart sing and the feet ache to move.” American Songwriter calls her album Into the Dark “a fiddle-drenched, Americana gem.” With her soulful fiddling and poignant vocals, Laura treats traditional themes with classical sophistication and rock and roll swagger.

Hanneke Cassel plays fiddle with a style all her own, blending Texas grit with Celtic yearning. The Boston Globe calls her “a rising star” and Scottish fiddle master Alasdair Fraser calls her “one of the most talented and fun-loving young fiddlers you could ever hope to meet!” Bluegrass and jazz violin virtuoso Matt Glaser describes her playing as “always tremendously expressive and beautifully executed, with a wonderful sense of line and dynamics.” Hanneke grew up in Oregon, won honors as the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion in 1997, graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2000, and has since released eight albums, including her most recent, Dot the Dragon’s Eye. Her trio also includes cellist Michael Block, who regularly performs with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and guitarist Keith Murphy, formerly of the band Nightingale. Their richly textured instrumental music is filled with tenderness, as well as an irresistible drive. 

visit the Laura Cortese website

visit the Hanneke Cassel website