PINK MARTINI

PINK MARTINI TO PERFORM WITH NEW YORK POPS AT HISTORIC FOREST HILLS STADIUM ON AUGUST 7

On August 7, Pink Martini will perform with New York Pops at its inaugural summer series at its new home, Forest Hills Stadium. The genre-defying Portland, Oregon-based band will feature lead singers China Forbes and Storm Large, alongside bandleader Thomas Lauderdale and several other instrumentalists.

“It’s been a real pleasure collaborating with Pink Martini around North America, and I am tremendously excited that they will be joining The New York Pops in our inaugural season at our new summer home, Forest Hills Stadium,” said Music Director Steven Reineke. “Their multilingual, eclectic style works beautifully with a full orchestra, and I can’t wait to perform with them again and show New York City a great time on August 7. It’s always a party when PinkMartini comes to town!”

New York Pops concerts at Forest Hills Stadium are family-friendly events, with ticket packages beginning at only $10. Up to four children (16 and under) will be admitted FREE with the purchase of one adult ticket.

Forest Hills Stadium events have been made possible through a partnership with the local community, with a focus on making concerts an experience to be enjoyed by all New Yorkers. Dedicated entrance and exits have been constructed to manage audience flow and a sound mitigation project is underway which is designed to lower the overall noise levels around the stadium during concerts. The stadium is conveniently located feet from the E, M, F, and R subway trains as well as the Long Island Rail Road, and concert-goers are strongly encouraged to utilize public transportation as there is no parking available at the stadium or in the surrounding community.

The New York Pops annual subscription series at Carnegie Hall will open on October 9, 2015 with “My Favorite Things: The Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein,” featuring Sierra Boggess and Steven Pasquale and Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA.

TICKETS

Tickets are on sale at www.foresthillsstadium.com and range from $10 to $129. Kids tickets (16 and under) FREE with purchase of one adult ticket.

ABOUT THE NEW YORK POPS

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States, and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Under the leadership of dynamic Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, The New York Pops continues to re-imagine orchestral pops music. The orchestra performs an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall. The New York Pops is dedicated to lifelong learning, and collaborates with public schools, community organizations, children’s hospitals and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. PopsEd allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun. Visit www.newyorkpops.org for more information. Follow The New York Pops on Facebook (facebook.com/newyorkpops), Instagram (@thenewyorkpops), and Twitter (@newyorkpops).

Steven Reineke is the Music Director and Conductor of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Principal Pops Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Pops Conductor Designate of the Houston Symphony, beginning in the 2017-2018 season. Mr. Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and has been on the podium with the Boston Pops, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia. His extensive North American conducting appearances include San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, Edmonton and Pittsburgh.

ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS

PINK MARTINI

In 1994 in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale founded the “little orchestra” Pink Martini 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. Their first song “Sympathique” became an overnight sensation in France, was nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la 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 a dozen 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, the Cleveland Orchestra, 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; four 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; multiple sold-out appearances, and a festival opening, at the Montreal Jazz Festival, 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. In its twentieth year, Pink Martini was inducted into both the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

THOMAS LAUDERDALE

Thomas Lauderdale was raised in rural Indiana and began piano lessons at age six. When his family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who remains his coach and mentor today. At the age of 14, he made his first appearance with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Norman Leyden. Active in Oregon politics since he was student body president at Grant High School, Thomas served under Portland Mayor Bud Clark and Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt. In 1991, he worked under Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the drafting and passage of the city’s civil rights ordinance. He graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature in 1992. He spent most of his collegiate years, however, in cocktail dresses, taking on the role of “cruise director,” throwing waltzes with live orchestras and ice sculptures, disco masquerades, and operating a Tuesday night coffeehouse called Café Mardi. Instead of running for political office, Lauderdale founded Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment and affordable housing. Now in its 20th year, Pink Martini and Lauderdale are Oregon’s “musical ambassadors to the world,” performing a multilingual repertoire on concert stages from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl to Royal Albert Hall, and with more than 50 symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. The band has released nine albums on its own label Heinz Records, most recently Dream a Little Dream, a collaboration with the von Trapps.

CHINA FORBES

China Forbes (vocals) was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she graduated cum laude from Harvard and was awarded the Jonathan Levy Prize for acting. She appeared in New York regional theatre and off-off Broadway productions, earning her Equity card alongside future stars of stage and screen such as Norm Lewis, Peter Jacobson and Rainn Wilson. In 1994 she put her first band together and played regularly at NYC clubs CBGB’s Gallery, Mercury Lounge and Brownies. Her first solo album Love Handle was released in 1995 and she was chosen to sing “Ordinary Girl,” the theme song to the TV show Clueless. At that same time she was plucked from New York City by Harvard classmate Thomas Lauderdale to sing with Pink Martini, and has since written many of Pink Martini’s most beloved songs with Lauderdale, including “Sympathique,” “Lilly,” “Clementine,” “Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love,” “Over the Valley” and most recently “A Snowglobe Christmas,” which can be heard on Pink Martini’s holiday album Joy to the World. Her original song “Hey Eugene” is the title track of Pink Martini’s third album and many of her songs can also be heard on television and film.  She sang “Qué Será Será” over the opening and closing credits of Jane Campion’s film In the Cut and her original song “The Northern Line” appears at the end of sister Maya Forbes’ directorial debut Infinitely Polar Bear,  released June 19, 2015 by Sony Pictures Classics. 

STORM LARGE

Storm Large shot to national prominence in 2006 as a finalist on the CBS show “Rock Star: Supernova,” where she built a fan base that follows her around the world to this day. Storm made her debut as guest vocalist with the band PinkMartini in April 2011, singing four sold-out concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.  She continues to perform with the band, touring nationally and internationally. She debuted with the Oregon Symphony in 2010, and has returned for sold-out performances each year thereafter.  Storm made her Carnegie Hall debut in May 2013, singing Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In 2007, she starred in Portland Center Stage’s production of Cabaret with Wade McCollum.  Her next endeavor, the autobiographical musical memoir Crazy Enough, played to packed houses in 2009 during its unprecedented 21-week sold-out run in Portland. Storm went on to perform a cabaret version of the show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Adelaide Festival in Australia, and Joe’s Pub in New York. In the fall of 2014, Storm and her band Le Bonheur released the record “Le Bonheur.” This season, Storm also makes her debut with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Houston Symphony and The RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Dublin, among others.  Storm is also busy creating a new musical with The Public Theater in New York City.

ABOUT FOREST HILLS STADIUM

From Billie Jean King to The Beatles, Jimmy Connors to Jimi Hendrix, Chris Evert to The Rolling Stones, for decades the stadium at the West Side Tennis Club was not only host of the U.S. Open, it was also a renowned music venue, tucked into a leafy neighborhood of stately homes in Queens’ Forest Hills neighborhood. However, when the U.S. Open moved to larger space in Flushing, Queens in 1977, the architecturally stunning, horseshoe-shaped Forest Hills Stadium fell into disrepair and its days as a music venue faded. In 2013, concert promoters partnered with the West Side Tennis Club to rehabilitate the stadium and bring events back to this storied venue.

Forest Hills Stadium reopened in August 2013 with an inaugural performance by Mumford & Sons on their “Full English” tour. The concert, the first in the stadium in over 15 years, brought music fans from all over the world to Forest Hills, Queens to experience live music in a truly unique environment. The 2014 concert season featured performances by Zac Brown Band, Drake, Lil Wayne, Brand New, Modest Mouse, The Replacements and Phil Lesh. Following its reopening, the stadium underwent a restoration, including a number of renovations and improvements. These included ticketed seating in the upper bowl, improved ADA seating options, widened aisles and handrail installation as well as a new concourse plan featuring easier access to food, beverage and other facilities. Ticketing was improved through a new, fan-friendly reserved ticketing system provided by Ticketfly.

http://www.newyorkpops.org

 http://www.foresthillsstadium.com

The New York Pops is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely through the generosity of individual donations, institutional grants, and concert income. Dates, artists, and programs are subject to change.