UCSB Arts & Lectures will present a Pink Martini holiday spectacular with singer China Forbes at 8 p.m. Sat., Dec. 2, at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara.
Audience members can celebrate the most wonderful time of the year with Pink Martini, the globetrotting “little orchestra” that draws inspiration from classic Hollywood musicals and crosses genres to make an eclectic, modern sound.
Forbes will headline the show, performing music from around the world accompanied by the ensemble’s musicianship and infectious joie de vivre. This effervescent group combines Latin music, jazz and cabaret.
On the heels of its ninth studio album release, Je dis oui!, Pink Martini again reveals its formidable talent and wide-ranging influences, “tackled with cosmopolitan sophistication and the playfulness of pop,” reports NPR.
In 1994, in his hometown of Portland, Ore., Thomas Lauderdale was working in politics, thinking one day he’d 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 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 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 a sensation in France, was nominated for Song of the Year at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards and remains a mantra (“Je ne veux pas travailler” or “I don’t want to work”) for striking French workers.
“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,” Lauderdale said.
Featuring 12 musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and North and South 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 performed with some 50 orchestras worldwide, including Los Angeles Philharmonic at Hollywood Bowl, Boston Pops, National Symphony at Kennedy Center, San Francisco Symphony, and BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London.
Pink Martini is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. Event sponsor is Patricia Gregory, for the Baker Foundation; media sponsor is the Santa Barbara Independent; wine sponsor is Palmina.
Tickets are $40-$60 for the general public and $20 for UCSB students (valid student ID required). A limited quantity of $150 tickets include a post-show holiday party. An Arlington facility fee will be added to each ticket price.
For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 893-3535 or visitwww.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu, or contact the Arlington Theatre, 963-4408 orthearlingtontheatre.com.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges the support of SAGE Publishing for its major corporate support of the 2017-18 season.
— Caitlin O’Hara for UCSB Arts & Lectures.