Hush by Laura Cortese

FIDDLE

She got inspired to play the fiddle as a teenager when she first went to Alasdair Fraser's Valley of the Moon fiddle camp (near her home town of San Francisco). After a few years in the Scottish fiddle club scene (as well as trips to Scotland and Cape Breton Island) she developed a truly driving Scottish fiddle style all her own, and has won a number of fiddle competitions; she was the 1998 New England regional Scottish Fiddle Champion.

She was featured on tour with Alasdair Fraser and the San Francisco Scottish Fiddle Club in California and Alaska. She has studied with Fraser, as well as Martin Hayes, Buddy MacMaster, Catriona MacDonald, Jerry Holland, and Carl Mackenzie.

Through her involvement in Boston many and varied traditional music scenes, Laura's music has been influenced by Irish & American traditional music, jazz, pop & more.

SONG

Laura is increasingly being recognized as an inspiring vocalist who combines a respect and depth of knowledge of traditional folk ballads with a thoroughly modern delivery. Her solo concerts & performances with the fiddle trio Halali both feature Laura's vocals. Laura sings on Lissa Schneckenburger's solo record A Different Game and The McKasson's Debut Release: Tall Tales

DANCE

As a stepdancer Laura performs regularly with Maryland's Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble. She is a cast member in Footworks' two new collaborative theatre shows: "The Crossing" (a collaboration with Nashville's Tim O'Brien which was named the "Best Concert of 2001" by New York's Irish Echo), and also "SoleMates" (a collaboration with the Washington, DC dance ensemble Step Afrika!).

CURRENT PROJECTS

Laura frequently performs with Boston band Halali, which features Laura and two other stellar fiddlers Lissa Schneckenburger and Hanneke Cassel, with guitar accompaniment by Flynn Cohen (of the John Whelan Band, among other projects). Halali was nominated for a Boston Music Award for Folk Act of 2004. Halali offers intricate fiddle arrangements that "veer between Celtic airs, Appalachian hoedowns, and their own smart tunes with bewitching ease." (Boston Globe, Nov. 2001).

Laura performs as a dancer with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble of Annapolis, Maryland (see "dance" above). When she can, Laura goes on unofficial busking tours with a trio of friends known as The Jolly Bankers, in which she plays fiddle, sings, and helps engineer innovative independent recording projects.

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