Pink Martini

With Storm Large

Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 8pm

Performance Sponsor
Mark Chapin Johnson Foundation

This performance is presented without an intermission.

Thomas M. Lauderdale: Bandleader and Piano

Storm Large: Lead Vocals

Jimmie Herrod: Guest Vocals

Thomas Barber: Trumpet

Antonis Andreou: Trombone

Phil Baker: Upright Bass

Dan Faehnle: Guitar

Nicholas Crosa: Violin

Anthony Jones: Drums

Miguel Bernal: Percussion

Timothy Nishimoto: Percussion and Vocals

Now in its 31st year, the unstoppable engine of joy that is Pink Martini continues to bring founder Thomas Lauderdale’s mission of multicultural connection and inclusion to concert stages on six continents. Presenting a mélange of catchy, old-fashioned pop, global color, foot-tapping big band sound, and Hollywood glamour, Oregon’s most famous “little orchestra” performs music intended to appeal to everyone, regardless of age or background.

Wanting an antidote to the lackluster bands playing fundraisers for his favorite causes, Lauderdale had a vision to bring more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks to galas supporting civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education, and parks. Drawing musical inspiration from around the world—and hoping to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike—he founded Pink Martini in 1994. A year later, Lauderdale called China Forbes, his friend from Harvard, and asked her to join the ensemble; she relocated to Portland to become the band’s first full-time lead singer and soon collaborated with Lauderdale on a number of the band’s favorite original songs.

As the band grew beyond its humble beginnings, Lauderdale lovingly welcomed more and more incredible musicians into the band’s family, creating regular collaborations with a wide variety of gifted singers, including the inimitable Storm Large, NPR’s Ari Shapiro, the soulful Edna Vazquez, America’s Got Talent finalist Jimmie Herrod, and international singing sensation Meow Meow. On record, the band has also worked with iconic talents such as Japanese superstar Saori Yuki, Iranian legend Googoosh, Rufus Wainwright, Michael Feinstein, Georges Moustaki, Jimmie Scott, and many more.

Featuring a dozen musicians, Pink Martini performs songs in more than 25 languages around the world. 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 that remains the most heterogeneously populated country in the world … composed of people of every country, every language, every religion.” The band made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony the following year. Since then, Pink Martini has performed with more than 75 orchestras internationally, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Pops, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Other appearances include a performance at the official post-Oscars celebration, the Governors Ball; four sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York; multiple sellouts and a festival opening at the Montreal Jazz Festival; and multiple appearances, including sellouts, at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

On its in-house label, Heinz Records, Pink Martini has sold millions of albums worldwide and released more than a dozen recordings. Pink Martini released the acclaimed EP Bella Ciao in spring 2025, featuring the anti-fascist title track sung by Storm Large. Early in 2026, the band will unveil its full-length collaborative release with Googoosh and plans to release a new album by the end of 2026. During China Forbes’s current sabbatical, the perpetually energetic and evolving band continues to tour internationally with a number of its favorite singers, sharing its message of global community and joy through music. Visit www.pinkmartini.com for more information.

Storm Large is a musician, actor, playwright, author—and an undeniable force of personality. She rose to national prominence in 2006 as a finalist on the CBS series Rock Star: Supernova. Although eliminated just before the finale, she built a fiercely loyal fan base that continues to follow her worldwide. More recently, she appeared on the 2021 season of America's Got Talent.

Storm made her debut as guest vocalist with Pink Martini in April 2011, performing four sold-out concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center. Since then, she has toured nationally and internationally with the band and is featured on their album Get Happy.

In 2019, marking the 10th anniversary of its premiere, Storm reprised her autobiographical one-woman musical memoir Crazy Enough at the La Jolla Music Society and Portland Center Stage. The original production enjoyed an unprecedented 21-week sold-out run.

Storm has headlined with orchestras around the world, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the New York Pops, the Philly Pops, and the Louisville Orchestra, with whom she recorded the 2017 album All In for Decca Gold.

She continues to tour concert halls nationwide with her band Le Bonheur. In 2014, Storm & Le Bonheur released the album Le Bonheur on Heinz Records—a collection of darkly romantic American Songbook interpretations that are equal parts elegant and mischievous.

Storm has performed with artists including k.d. lang, Kirill Gerstein, John Doe, Rufus Wainwright, and George Clinton. She also joined Michael Feinstein as a special guest alongside Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey with the Pasadena Pops.

Her memoir, Crazy Enough, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2012, named Oprah’s Book of the Week, and received the 2013 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction.

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University of California, Irvine

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