Pink Martini

From the venue:

“Pink Martini is a rollicking around-the-world musical adventure… if the United Nations had a house band
in 1962, hopefully we’d be that band.”

– Thomas Lauderdale, bandleader/pianist
In 1994 in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale was working in politics, thinking that
one day he would run for mayor. Like other eager politicians-in-training, he went to every political
fundraiser under the sun… but was dismayed to find the music at these events underwhelming, lackluster,
loud and un-neighborly. Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world – crossing genres of
classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop – and hoping to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike, he founded
the “little orchestra” Pink Martini in 1994 to provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for
political fundraisers for causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public
broadcasting, education and parks.
One year later, Lauderdale called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate who was living in New York City,
and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together. Their first song “Sympathique”
became an overnight sensation in France, was nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la
Musique Awards, and to this day remains a mantra (“Je ne veux pas travailler” or “I don’t want to work”)
for striking French workers. Says Lauderdale, “We’re very much an American band, but we spend a lot of
time abroad and therefore have the incredible diplomatic opportunity to represent a broader, more inclusive
America… the America which remains the most heterogeneously populated country in the world…
composed of people of every country, every language, every religion.”
Featuring a dozen musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with
symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa,
Australia, New Zealand, South America and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the
Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the
direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around
the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the
Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland
Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. Other appearances include the
grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with
return sold-out engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011; four sold-out concerts at
Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the
Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in
Australia; multiple sold-out appearances, and a festival opening, at the Montreal Jazz Festival, two sold-out
concerts at Paris’ legendary L’Olympia Theatre in 2011; and Paris’ fashion house Lanvin’s 10-year
anniversary celebration for designer Alber Elbaz in 2012. In its twentieth year, Pink Martini was inducted
into both the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the Oregon Music Hall of Fame