From Political Operative to Musical Sensation

Way back in the Dark Ages (1994), Thomas Lauderdale was working on political campaigns in Portland, Oregon. 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 “to bring a little bit of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” to political fundraising for causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, cleaning up the Willamette River, libraries and education, among others.

One year later, Lauderdale picked up the phone (you know, the kind with wires that go into the wall, like what they had in the Dark Ages) and called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate who was living in New York City. He asked her to join Pink Martini. She agreed and they began to write songs together. The rest, as "they" all too commonly say, is history.

Skip forward 23 years, and the band now features a dozen musicians, has a repertoire with songs in over 25 languages, and has released nine studio albums. They have also played with more than 70 orchestras around the world, and regularly sell out concerts around the globe – their multilingual, meta-national appeal is seemingly unrivaled. 

Pink Martini will appear at Festival Boca on Sunday, March 3, at 7 pm, offering up an eclectic, international, multilingual, rambunctious and, of course, fun, concert that no self-respecting musicophile will want to miss.