Fiddler, dancer and singer/songwriter Laura Cortese will perform at 8 p.m. on Saturday at the Pistol River Friendship Hall. - Contributed Photo

Fiddler, dancer and singer/songwriter Laura Cortese at 8 p.m. on Saturday at the Pistol River Friendship Hall.

A rising star, Cortese’s shows boast an energetic mix of driving fiddle, vocals, and stepdance with an original blend of Celtic music and contemporary influences, a press release from the Pistol River Concert Association said. Cortese’s dynamic fiddling, flashing footwork and expressive vocals offer a distinct blend of traditional styling and innovative artistry.

She was inspired to play the fiddle as a teenager when she first went to Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon fiddle camp in Northern California. After a few years in the Scottish fiddle club scene, following trips to Scotland and Cape Breton Island, she developed a driving Scottish fiddle style all her own. She has won a number of fiddle competitions including the 1998 New England regional Scottish Fiddle Championships. Cortese graduated in 2001 from Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where she studied fiddle.

She has been featured on tour with Fraser and the San Francisco Scottish Fiddle Club. She has studied with Fraser, as well as Martin Hayes, Buddy MacMaster, Catriona MacDonald, Jerry Holland and Carl Mackenzie.  Through her involvement in Boston’s varied traditional music scene, Cortese’s music has been influenced by Irish & American traditional music, jazz, pop and more.

An accomplished stepdancer, Laura performs with Maryland’s “Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble” and has choreographed modern dance at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and studied stepdancing with Mary Janet MacDonald of Cape Breton.

Tickets are $15 and available at Mory’s and Words and Pictures in Brookings and at Gold Beach Books in Gold Beach. Tickets also can be reserved online at http://www.pistolriver.com or by calling (541) 247-2848.