FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 14, 2016
Press Contacts:
Eileen Chambers/CSO
312.294.3092
MaryJane Maharry/Brava PR
773.490.6046
Photos Available By Request
[email protected]
PINK MARTINI RETURNS TO SYMPHONY CENTER
FOR SPRING FLING CONCERT FEATURING CHINA FORBES
Popular Ensemble’s Globally-Inspired Evening of Music Takes
Audiences from Cabarets to Clubs to Concert Halls
Friday, March 25, at 8:00 PM
CHICAGO — Pink Martini with lead singer China Forbes returns to Symphony Center in a
Special Concert on Friday, March 25 at 8:00 p.m. The group’s signature cocktail of crowdpleasing classical, pop and jazz arrangements by founder, bandleader, and pianist Thomas
Lauderdale highlight the witty and elegant vocals of lead singer China Forbes alongside the
eclectic instrumentals of this one-of-a-kind, 11-piece ensemble.
The Chicago appearance of Pink Martini features some of the songs that have endeared the
group to fans across the globe including “Sympathique,” “Amado Mio” and “Brasil.” The evening
also introduces the audience to new Pink Martini songs including “Ov Sirun Sirun” and “Joli
Garcon”, which Lauderdale created for a French/Belgian film starring Isabelle Huppert due out
in late 2016.
Lauderdale founded Pink Martini in 1994 and draws musical inspiration for the group’s vocal
and instrumental selections from around the world, crossing the genres of classical, jazz and
old-fashioned pop. Now more than twenty years later, Pink Martini and Lauderdale perform in
22 languages on concert stages from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl to Royal Albert Hall,
and have appeared with more than 50 symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the
Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. The band has released nine
albums on its own label Heinz Records, most recently Dream a Little Dream, a collaboration
with The von Trapps. In 2014, Pink Martini was inducted into both the Hollywood Bowl Hall of
Fame and the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.
Forbes has enjoyed a successful singing career both as a solo artist and with Pink Martini. She
and Lauderdale have written many of Pink Martini’s most beloved songs including
“Sympathique,” with its famous chorus (“I don’t want to work”), “Clementine,” “Let’s Never Stop
Falling in Love,” and most recently "A Snowglobe Christmas". Her original song “Hey Eugene” is
the title track of Pink Martini’s third album and many of her songs can also be heard on
television and film. With Pink Martini, Forbes has appeared on The Late Show with David
Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Later with
Jools Holland. She performs songs in more than 12 languages and has performed with Michael
Feinstein, Jimmy Scott, Georges Moustaki, Henri Salvador, Saori Yuki, Faith Prince, Carol
Channing and Rufus Wainwright.
Tickets for all CSOA-presented concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312294-3000; online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60604. For group rates, please call 312-294-3040.
Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.
###
Symphony Center Presents
Special Concert
Friday, March 25, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Pink Martini
Thomas M. Lauderdale, piano
China Forbes, vocals
Gavin Bondy, trumpet
Robert Taylor, trombone
Nicholas Crosa, violin
Pansy Chang, cello
Phil Baker, upright bass
Dan Faehnle, guitar
Timothy Nishimoto, vocals and percussion
Brian Davis, congas and percussion
Miguel Bernal, congas and percussion
Brent Follis, drums and percussion
Kyle Mustain, English horn
Tickets: $40-$85
Pink Martini
Fifteen years ago in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale, while drawing inspiration
from music from all over the world—crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop—founded
the “little orchestra” now known as Pink Martini. Lauderdale met China Forbes, lead vocalist, at Harvard.
They began to write songs together in 1994. Their first song “Sympathique”—with the chorus “Je ne veux
pas travailler” (I don’t want to work)—became an overnight sensation in France, and was even nominated
for Song of the Year at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards. Pink Martini has 12 musicians (and
sometimes travels with string sections), and performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and
with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa,
Australia, New Zealand 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 over 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. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic’s Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall; two sold-out concerts at
Carnegie Hall; the Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; and the opening of the
2008 Sydney Festival in Australia.
The band has collaborated and performed with Jimmy Scott, Carol Channing, Henri Salvador, Jane
Powell, Chavela Vargas, Georges Moustaki, Michael Feinstein, DJ Dimitri from Paris, clarinetist and
conductor Norman Leyden, Hiroshi Wada and DJ Johnny. Pink Martini’s debut album, Sympathique, was
released independently in 1997 on the band’s own label Heinz Records. Pink Martini released Hang On
Little Tomato in 2004 and Hey Eugene! in 2007. All three albums have gone gold in France, Canada,
Greece and Turkey, and have sold more than two million copies worldwide. In partnership with Public
Broadcasting, the band also filmed and released a concert DVD entitled DiscoverThe World.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra: www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest
orchestras in the world. Since 2010, the preeminent conductor Riccardo Muti has served as its 10th
music director. Yo-Yo Ma is the CSO’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and Samuel Adams
and Elizabeth Ogonek are its Mead Composers-in-Residence.
From baroque through contemporary music, the CSO commands a vast repertoire. Its renowned
musicians annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in Chicago and, each
summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. They regularly tour nationally and internationally. Since 1892,
the CSO has made 58 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.
People around the globe listen to weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings on the WFMT
radio network and online at cso.org/radio. Recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards,
including two in 2011 for Muti’s recording with the CSO and Chorus of Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Muti’s
first of four releases with the CSO to date). Find details on these and many other CSO recordings at
www.cso.org/resound.
The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which also includes the Chicago
Symphony Chorus (Duain Wolfe, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training
ensemble for emerging professionals. Through its prestigious Symphony Center Presents series, the
CSOA presents guest artists and ensembles from a variety of genres—classical, jazz, world, and
contemporary.
The Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO offers community and education programs that annually
engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Through the Institute and other
activities, including a free annual concert with Muti and the CSO, the CSO is committed to using the
power of music to create connections and build community.
The CSO is supported by thousands of patrons, volunteers and institutional and individual donors. Bank
of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO. The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity
by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Negaunee Foundation provides generous
support in perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute.