Figueroa, folk duo play Guild Hall March 4 and 5

Island Music Guild hosts two concerts this weekend, with Bainbridge Island songstress Holly Figueroa Saturday night and folk musicians Cindy Kallet and Grey Larsen on Sunday. Figueroa can be found playing at venues as small as the Pegasus Coffee House, strumming her guitar and singing her original songs, but she has also toured internationally and been featured on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” twice.

Island Music Guild hosts two concerts this weekend, with Bainbridge Island songstress Holly Figueroa Saturday night and folk musicians Cindy Kallet and Grey Larsen on Sunday.

Figueroa can be found playing at venues as small as the Pegasus Coffee House, strumming her guitar and singing her original songs, but she has also toured internationally and been featured on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” twice.

She has several CDs available, and is working on another, “between diaper changes and homeschooling, macaroni and cheese and discussions about downwelling,” she notes on her Web site update.

The March 4 concert will be a fund-raiser for the self-produced record. Backing her up at the show will be Korum Bischoff on drums, Liam Graham on bass and some to-be-announced musical guests.

Kallet and Larsen hail from Maine and Indiana, respectively, and will present a concert of folk and traditional Irish music March 5, with Kallet on guitar and Larsen on Irish flute and tin whistle, plus other assorted instruments.

Kallet has been singing, writing music and playing guitar since age 11, and has recorded five solo albums over a 25-year career.

Stone Soup magazine said of her music: “Cindy Kallet is the very personification of the best of American folk music: her songs are rich, deeply textured and often moving and her voice will give you the shivers.”

Kallet draws inspiration from her surroundings on the coast of Maine, where she lives with her two sons and teaches guitar when not touring.

Larsen has been around music all his life, and began piano lessons at age 4.

He wove an education in classical music at Oberlin Conservatory with an interest in folk and traditional Irish music to create a life as a performer, teacher, author, recording artist, record producer, mastering engineer and music editor of Sing Out! magazine.

He is also the author of the 480-page “The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle,” and “The Essential Tin Whistle Toolbox.”

You can hear his playing on 11 CDs, both as a solo artist and with Irish traditional musicians such as Paddy League and Malcolm Dalglish.

Holly Figueroa performs 8 p.m. March 4 at the Island Music Guild Hall, 10598 Valley Rd., Bainbridge Island.

Tickets are $10-$20, available at (206) 842-3380.

Cindy Kallet and Grey Larsen perform 7 p.m. March 5 at the Guild Hall. Tickets are $8 adults, $5 seniors and students, available at (206) 842-3380. wu

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