A Stirring Evening

Pink Martini, the 11-member group of talented multi-lingual musicians, made their 10th appearance in our Eden by the Beach, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures series.

The venerable Granada was sold-out as pianist Thomas Lauderdale, the Portland, Oregon-based founder, and his fellow Harvard classmate China Forbes led the group singing songs in Armenian, Croatian, Persian, French, Italian, and Japanese, just part of their 25-language songbook since making their European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

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 San Francisco Symphony, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Forbes, who has written many of the tony troupe’s iconic songs and has sung with Rufus Wainwright, Michael Feinstein, and the late Carol Channing among others, was in fine form with such hits as “Hey Eugene,” “Sympathique,” and “Clementine.”

Last year, she received the Ella Fitzgerald Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival where past winners have included legends such as Etta James, Liza Minnelli, Aretha Franklin, Harry Connick Jr., and Tony Bennett.

The concert was the perfect musical libation. As usual, Pink Martini left us shaken and stirred!