About the Show
John Blackstone profiles the band Pink Martini, whose 12 musicians sing in 24 languages to fans of all ages, from California to Croatia. Pianist Thomas Lauderdale, who started the group in 1994, calls the music "old fashioned, symphonic global pop." Watch the video.
Read more about Pink Martini
Pink Martini’s fourth studio album – Splendor In The Grass – encapsulates the band’s history and spirit of global collaboration and inclusivity. Comprised of nine original songs and four covers (with songs in English, Neapolitan, Italian, French and Spanish), Splendor In The Grass was recorded in the band’s hometown of Portland, and produced by bandleader/pianist Thomas Lauderdale and longtime collaborator and muse Alex Marashian — a college cohort of Lauderdale and vocalist China Forbes.
In 2010, Pink Martini released their first holiday album, Joy to the World. Joy to the World is a festive, nondenominational holiday album with music from around the globe. There are 14 songs on Joy to the World including well-known traditional holiday songs like Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas" sung in Japanese by China Forbes in English and by the Saori Yuki: the Barbra Streisand of Japan. Lauderdale notes, “I love the holidays and all the music that goes with it. We strove to make an inclusive and non-denominational album that could be played anywhere in the world.”
“Pink Martini draws inspiration from the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s or 1950s … with a more global perspective. We write a lot of songs … but we also champion songs like Ernesto Lecuona’s “Andalucia” or “Amado mio” from the Rita Hayworth film Gilda. In that sense, we’re a bit like musical archeologists, digging through recordings and scores of years past and rediscovering beautiful songs," Lauderdale says.
Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand and North America. The band has gone on to play with more than 25 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 and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London.