Pink Martini in Girona

Pink Martini is an American ensemble formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale. The group plays orchestral pop, jazz, Latin music and chanson, often in several languages. Its debut album, Sympathique, introduced the title song known for the refrain “Je ne veux pas travailler”; later releases include Hang On Little Tomato and Hey Eugene!. In 1997, Pink Martini made its European concert debut at the Cannes Film Festival. The following year, it made its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony under Norman Leyden, and collaborations with symphony orchestras became a recurring part of its live work, including performances with the Boston Pops. Thomas Lauderdale leads the ensemble from the piano, while singers including China Forbes and Storm Large perform a multilingual repertoire supported by brass, strings and percussion. In Los Angeles, the group has performed at the Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre; in London, it has appeared in the concert-hall setting of Royal Albert Hall.

Storm Large is an American singer, songwriter, actor and author whose work spans rock, pop, jazz and cabaret. Born in Massachusetts in 1969, she fronted Storm and the Balls in Portland, Oregon, and competed on the television series Rock Star: Supernova. She later became a frequent guest vocalist with Pink Martini, and her solo recordings include the album Le Bonheur. Crazy Enough premiered at Portland Center Stage in 2009, placing her songs within an autobiographical stage production. In 2011 she made her debut with Pink Martini during concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, beginning a long live association with the group. Two years later, she sang Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for her Carnegie Hall debut.