PRESS CONTACTS:
Laura Farmer, 410.783.8024
lfarmer@BSOmusic.org
Alyssa Porambo, 410.783.8044
aporambo@BSOmusic.org
Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of the press release previously issued on August 13th.
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Annual Gala Features Band
Pink Martini, Sept. 7
NPR’s Ari Shapiro to sing with Pink Martini
Baltimore, Md. (August 28, 2013) - Signaling the start of the social season, the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra (BSO) will hold its annual Gala Concert on Saturday, September 7 at 8:30 p.m. at the Joseph
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. This year’s Gala will be led by BSO Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly.
The concert features the band Pink Martini with vocalist Storm Large, who will collaborate with the BSO
for an intoxicating mix of cabaret, samba, jazz and Hollywood musicals. National Public Radio’s news
correspondent Ari Shapiro, a frequent guest vocalist with Pink Martini, will perform. The Washington
Post praised Mr. Shapiro’s past performance: “Stereotypically tall, dark and handsome, Shapiro
glided across the stage, crooning like a professional.” Please see below for program details.
Described as a hip “little orchestra” with a multicultural sound, Pink Martini has performed with
orchestras around the world as well as in venues that include Carnegie Hall and Paris’ legendary
L’Olympia Theater. Pink Martini draws inspiration from around the world, which explains its
multilingual repertoire and diverse audience. This inclusive musical style fits perfectly with the BSO’s
mission to serve the region’s entire community.
The BSO Celebration Gala is chaired by longtime BSO supporters Ava Lias-Booker, Beth Goldsmith, and
Lainy LeBow-Sachs and is the organization's largest and most important fundraising event of the year. It
raises funds to support the Orchestra's educational outreach programs in Baltimore and throughout
Maryland. The Celebration Gala offers an evening of entertainment and fine dining provided by Classic
Catering. Pre- and post-concert gala festivities will take place in an event tent located just outside of the
Meyerhoff.
Jack Everly, conductor
Jack Everly is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Baltimore and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras,
Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), and the Music Director of
the National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth on PBS.
Mr. Everly is the Music Director of Yuletide Celebration, now a 26‐year tradition. These theatrical
symphonic holiday concerts are presented annually in December in Indianapolis and are seen by more
than 40,000 concert‐goers.
Originally appointed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mr. Everly was conductor of the American Ballet Theatre
for 14 years, where he served as music director. Mr. Everly has teamed with Marvin Hamlisch in
Broadway shows including The Goodbye Girl, They’re Playing Our Song, and A Chorus Line. He conducted
Carol Channing hundreds of times in Hello, Dolly! in two separate Broadway productions.
Mr. Everly has conducted the songs for Disney’s animated classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and led
the Czech Philharmonic on the recordings In the Presence and Sandi Patty’s 2011 release, Broadway Stories.
He also conducted the critically praised Everything’s Coming Up Roses: The Complete Overtures of
Broadway’s Jule Styne.
In 1998, Jack Everly created the Symphonic Pops Consortium, serving as music director. The Consortium,
based in Indianapolis, produces a new theatrical pops program each season. In the past 12 years, more
than 225 performances of SPC programs have taken place across the U.S. and Canada.
Maestro Everly holds an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Franklin College in his home state of Indiana.
When not on the podium or arranging, Maestro Everly indulges in his love for films, Haagen-Dazs, and a
pooch named Max.
Pink Martini
In 1994 in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, 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, Lauderdale called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate who was living in New York City,
and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together. Their first song “Sympathique”
became an overnight sensation in France, was nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires dela
Musique Awards, and to this day remains a mantra (“Je ne veux pas travailler” or “I don’t want to
work”) for striking French workers. 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 which remains the most heterogeneously populated
country in the world…composed of people of every country, every language, every religion.”
Featuring 10-12 musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire 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 50 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, the San Francisco Symphony, and
the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. Other appearances include the grand opening
of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out
engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011; two sold-out 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; the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia; two sold-out
concerts at Paris’ legendary L’Olympia Theatre in 2011; and Paris' fashion house Lanvin’s 10-year
anniversary celebration for designer Alber Elbaz in 2012.
Pink Martini’s debut album Sympathique was released independently in 1997 on the band’s own label
Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog), and quickly became an international phenomenon,
garnering the group nominations for “Song of the Year” and “Best New Artist” in France’s Victoires de la
Musique Awards in 2000. Pink Martini released Hang On Little Tomato in 2004, Hey Eugene! in 2007 and
Splendor In The Grass in 2009. In November 2010 the band released Joy To The World—a festive,
multidenominational holiday album featuring songs from around the globe. Joy To The World received
glowing reviews and was carried in Starbucks stores during the 2010 and 2011 holiday seasons. All five
albums have gone gold in France, Canada, Greece and Turkey, and have sold well over 2.5 million copies
worldwide.
In Fall 2011 the band released two albums – A Retrospective, a collection of the band’s most beloved songs
spanning their 18-year career, which includes eight previously unreleased tracks, and 1969, an album of
collaborations with legendary Japanese singer Saori Yuki. 1969 has been certified platinum in Japan,
reaching #2 on the Japanese charts with the Japan Times raving “the love and respect Saori Yuki and Pink
Martini have for the pop tradition shines through on every track.” The release of 1969 marked the first
time a Japanese artist hit the American Billboard charts since Kyu Sakamoto released “Sukiyaki” in 1963.
The band has collaborated and performed with numerous artists, including Jimmy Scott, Carol Channing,
Jane Powell, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Henri Salvador, Chavela Vargas, New York
performer Joey Arias, puppeteer Basil Twist, Georges Moustaki, Michael Feinstein, filmmaker Gus Van
Sant, Courtney Taylor Taylor of The Dandy Warhols, clarinetist and conductor Norman Leyden, Japanese
legend Hiroshi Wada, Italian actress and songwriter Alba Clemente, DJ Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi
Valenti, Faith Prince, Mamie Van Doren, the original cast of Sesame Street, the Bonita Vista High School
Marching Band of Chula Vista, California and the Pacific Youth Choir of Portland, Oregon.
Singer Storm Large began performing with Pink Martini in March 2011, when China Forbes took a leave
of absence to undergo surgery on her vocal cords. Forbes made full recovery and now both she and Large
continue performing with Pink Martini.
Pink Martini has an illustrious roster of regular guest artists: NPR White House correspondent Ari
Shapiro, Cantor Ida Rae Cahana (who was cantor at the Central Synagogue in NYC for five years), koto
player Masumi Timson, harpist Maureen Love, and Kim Hastreiter (the publish/editor-in-chief of Paper
Magazine). Most recently, the four great-grandchildren of Maria and Georg Von Trapp appeared with
Pink Martini and are currently working on a joint album project with the band.
In January 2012, bandleader Thomas Lauderdale recorded the Charlie Chaplin song “Smile” with the 94year-old legendary Phyllis Diller; this song will be released on a future Pink Martini album, tentatively
titled “Get Happy.”
Ari Shapiro, vocalist
When not covering breaking news as National Public Radio’s White House correspondent (since 2010) and
now as the network’s new London correspondent, Shapiro moonlights as a singer with the "little
orchestra" Pink Martini. With Pink Martini, he has performed at many of the world's most storied venues,
including the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Carnegie Hall in New York, L'Olympia in Paris, and
Mount Lycabettus in Athens. Shapiro is featured on Pink Martini’s latest album, Get Happy, scheduled for
release in September 2013.
As a news correspondent, Shapiro has reported for NPR since 2003, first in Miami, Boston and Atlanta,
and for the next five years as a justice correspondent covering national security and counterterrorism.
Since 2010 he's been at the White House, and spent 2012 on the campaign trail to lead NPR's coverage of
Mitt Romney's candidacy. He also travels widely overseas in his reporting, including visits to
Afghanistan and most recently Africa with President Barack Obama, and to Iraq with Attorney General
Michael Mukasey. He has been a guest host for Morning Edition and Weekend Edition, and regularly
appears on CNN, MSNBC and PBS. In his most recent appointment as London correspondent, Shapiro
will cover the great range of stories in Britain and all of Europe: from the economy and politics, to
culture, music and the royals. He will also contribute to NPR's coverage and breaking news from the
Middle East and North Africa.
GALA CONCERT
Gala Concert
Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 8:30 p.m.--Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (JMSH)
Repertoire will be announced at a later date.
Tickets for the Gala Concert are available from $40 at 410.783.8000 or at BSOmusic.org.
CELEBRATION GALA
Gala Celebration
Saturday, September 7, 2013 - Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (JMSH)
The Celebration Gala is a black-tie event.
6:30 p.m.: Gala Celebration, with dining and entertainment--Gala Tent
7:30 p.m.: Doors open for Gala Concert--Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (JMSH)
8:30 p.m.: Gala Concert featuring Pink Martini--JMSH
9:45 p.m.: VIP Post-concert party and desserts with BSO Artists--Gala Tent
For tickets to the Celebration Gala, please contact the BSO Members Hotline at 410.783.8124 or Megan
Beck at 410.783.8035.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency
dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of
Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistant to non-profit
organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the MSAC is also
provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
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