In 1994 in his hometown of Portland, OR, 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, Mr. Lauderdale called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate who was living in New York City, and asked her to join Pink Martini. 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 for striking French workers.

Featuring a dozen musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertory 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 fifty 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, Cleveland Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. The ensemble made its San Francisco Symphony debut in 2006. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, 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, performances with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House, multiple appearances at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Paris’s L’Olympia Theatre in 2011, and Paris’s fashion house Lanvin’s ten-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.

Raised in rural Indiana, Pink Martini bandleader Thomas M. Lauderdale began piano lessons at age six with Patricia Garrison. When his family moved to Portland, OR in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who to this day continues to serve as his coach and mentor. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest, and Oregon Ballet Theatre. 

In 2008, he played Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini. Mr. Lauderdale returned as soloist with the Oregon Symphony in multiple concerts in 2011, and again in 2015, under the direction of Carlos Kalmar. In 2017, he and his partner Hunter Noack created and performed a two-piano arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with choreographer Nicolo Fonte for Oregon Ballet Theatre. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut with Pink Martini in 2006.

Active in Oregon politics from his student days at U.S. Grant High School, Mr. Lauderdale graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in history and literature in 1992. He founded Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, affordable housing, and public broadcasting. In addition to his work with Pink Martini, he is currently working on three different recording projects with singer Meow Meow, the surf band Satan’s Pilgrims, and singer/civil rights leader Kathleen Saadat.

In 2008, Mr. Lauderdale completed his first film score, for Chiara Clemente’s documentary Our City Dreams, a portrait of five New York City-based women artists of different generations. In 2016, he created the score and three featured songs for the Belgian film Souvenir, starring Isabelle Huppert.

Mr. Lauderdale currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Symphony, Pioneer Courthouse Square, Oregon Historical Society, Confluence Project with Maya Lin, and the Derek Rieth Foundation. He lives with his partner Hunter Noack in downtown Portland, OR.

China Forbes was born and raised in Cambridge, MA, where she graduated cum laude from Harvard and was awarded the Jonathan Levy Prize for Most Promising Actor in 1992. Her first solo album Love Handle was released in 1995, and she was chosen to sing “Ordinary Girl,” the theme song to the TV show Clueless.

In 1995, she was plucked from New York City by Harvard classmate Thomas Lauderdale to sing with Pink Martini, and has since co-written many of the band’s most beloved songs with Mr. Lauderdale, including “Je ne veux pas travailler,” “Lilly,” “Clementine,” “Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love,” “Over the Valley,” and “A Snowglobe Christmas,” which can be heard on Pink Martini’s holiday album Joy to the World. Her original song “Hey Eugene” is the title song of Pink Martini’s third album. Ms. Forbes sang “Qué Será Será” over the opening and closing credits of Jane Campion’s film In the Cut, and her original song “The Northern Line” appears at the end of her sister Maya Forbes’s directorial debut Infinitely Polar Bear.

Ms. Forbes has performed songs in more than twenty languages and has sung duets with Michael Feinstein, Jimmy Scott, Georges Moustaki, Henri Salvador, Saori Yuki, Faith Prince, Carol Channing, and Rufus Wainwright, among others. She has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall to Red Rocks, and the Hollywood Bowl to the Grand Rex in Paris. She released her second solo album, a collection of autobiographical folk-rock songs entitled’78 on Heinz Records in 2008. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut with Pink Martini in 2006.

Born in Belfast, Ireland, conductor Christopher Bell was educated at Edinburgh University. He held his first post as associate conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and has subsequently conducted such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, RTÉ National Symphony, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and the Bournemouth Symphony. In 1988 Mr. Bell made his debut with the Ulster Orchestra in performances of Handel’s Messiah and has since appeared regularly with the orchestra, conducting concerts throughout Northern Ireland.

He has conducted choral and orchestral performances at the Chicago Grant Park Music Festival, where he has been Chorus Director since 2002. During his tenure he and the chorus have been recipients of Chorus America’s Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence. In addition to his many concerts and recordings with the Grant Park Chorus, Mr. Bell has performed and recorded with the Opera Australia Chorus, the Netherlands Radio Choir, the RTVE Choir in Madrid. He most recently gave a performance of Haydn’s The Creation with the Finnish Radio Symphony and Choir.

Mr. Bell was principal guest conductor of the State Orchestra of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia from 1998 to 2000, chorus master of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 1989 and 2002, and he was the first artistic director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union. He became Music Director of the Washington Chorus in Washington DC in 2017. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at these performances.

In 2001, Mr. Bell received a Scotsman of the Year Award for Creative Talent in appreciation for his work with singers, and in 2003, he was awarded the Sir Charles Groves Prize for his contribution to cultural life in Scotland and throughout the UK. In May 2009, he received an honorary master's degree from the Open University for Services to the Arts and November 2012 was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for services to singing in Scotland.