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All seats $12

Turtle Salon presents Christina Courtin -- Don't miss her Baltimore concert debut! A rising star, who is opening for Susanne Vega's current tour, this is your chance to catch her in our intimate concert hall before she becomes a household name.

Meandering through all walks of musical life, Christina Courtin has acted as a writer, arranger, violinist, violist, and singer. Courtin, whose voice the New York Times recently described as "[calling] to mind the soulful, atmospheric sound of the late 1960s: early Joni Mitchell at times, with an occasional touch of Laura Nyro and the vaguest hint of Janis Joplin," is a performer who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. She blends blues, soul and rock with elements of jazz and classical music to produce a mesmerizing live experience and has worked with an eclectic array of artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Don Byron, Dawn Upshaw, Osvaldo Golijov, Brooklyn Rider, Ryan Scott, Jon Brion, Vienna Teng, Kayne West, Billy Martin, Mark O'Connor and Teddy Thompson. Her debut record is due for a January 2009 release on Nonesuch Records.

A singer-songwriter in the grand tradition of the Young New York Songstress, Christina Courtin has a few extra tricks up her sleeve. She has a vocal chutzpah that instantly disarms an audience. She forsakes the solo act, in favor of playing with a full band including guitar, percussion, stand-up bass and, on occasion, violin, which she’s been playing since age 3 and for which she is a Julliard graduate. She has an uninhibited performance style, which Time Out New York describes as “a fearlessness that most vocalists reserve for the shower.” Her songs are peppered with her wry humor. And while she can deliver mid-tempo ballads like the best of ‘em, Christina can also rock out. (Mozart is a major influence, as is Led Zeppelin).

Together with her masterful band, The Running Kicks, Christina genre-hops from blues to soul to rock, blending in elements of jazz and classical music. Guitarist Kyle Sanna and percussionist Mathias Kunzli’s intricate musical flourishes adorn Christina’s self-penned songs on subjects like break-ups, discarded photographs, winter months, soap and blue collar men. The three met through mutual musician friends in 2004 and soon discovered they were musical soul-mates. They gelled together rapidly as a live band and started developing their devout New York following at their earliest shows. In the two years since, the Kicks have sold out nearly every show they’ve played, including at venues such as Joe’s Pub, The Cutting Room, Makor, Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction, Rockwood Music Hall, the Knitting Factory, Nublu, Pianos, The Living Room, Tonic and others.

"Onstage, she lunges into her music with a spasmodie fearlessness that most vocalists reserve for the shower, recalling peformers as diverse as Janis Jopin and Antony....'The excitement for Christina is similar to what I saw with Norah Jones,' says Brice Rosembloom, who cooked both women for residencies at Makor, 'The difference is that with Norah, it took a push from the industry to get things going. With Christina, the buzz is purely audience driven.'"

On June 6, 2008, The New York Times reviewed her show and said:
"Ms. Courtin’s music and her unaffected vocal style call to mind the soulful, atmospheric sound of the late 1960s: early Joni Mitchell at times, with an occasional touch of Laura Nyro and the vaguest hint of Janis Joplin. Her most striking songs are not simply strophic: her melodies tend to expand and develop (and send her voice higher in its range) rather than merely repeat. And she arranged her set with a sensible dramatic arc, moving from the quiet introspection of “Bundah” and “Rainy” to the more melodically wide-ranging, extroverted “February” and “Photograph.”