Pink Martini and the NSO

When I heard that the band Pink Martini was going to play last night, I immediately thought of a cabaret performance with music that would be fitting in a smoky lounge or even a fancy elevator. But as usual with Wolf Trap concerts, I thought wrong. Pink Martini is a band founded in 1994 by Thomas Lauderdale in Oregon. He initially set to create a "mini" orchestra that would incorporate a diverse number of musical genres including jazz, classical, pop, and elements of music from around the world. They have become popular all over the globe, particularly in Europe. They have released 7 albums since their debut in 1997. In addition, they have performed with a variety of ensembles including the LA Phil, Boston Pop, and the San Francisco Symphony. Along with Lauderdale, they are headed by singers China Forbes and Storm Large.

The show got off to a slow start initially with the sort of cabaret music I thought they would play throughout the night. I'll admit I'm not a fan of that kind of music but I was relieved to find their repertoire spanned many distinct genres and rhythms. They had a couple songs with a latin beat, songs with more of a Bollywood feel, and even some swing songs that seemed to come straight from the 1940's. What I thought was really was that the singers knew a few languages a sang songs in english, spanish, and arabic! It was remarkable how easily the band and the NSO switched between different types of music and each of the musicians in Pink Martini were fantastic, particularly the brass players. In a show that I thought would be relaxing and laid back, they had people up and dancing for a quite a number of songs and the energy of their instrumentation prevented their songs from settling into a mellow trance. A special moment was when Ari Shapiro, the host of NPR's All Things Considered (which has gotten me through a slew of traffic jams on the way to work) came out and sang a beautiful song. He is a man of many talents and seemed super comfortable on the stage! Once again, the NSO took a backseat to another performer but that definitely added to the sound in a positive way and despite it being incredibly hot, I'm sure they liked playing different kinds of music than they're used to. There were a lot of people on the lawn for an NSO show and it was really hot but everyone was nice and didn't seem to mind the weather that much.

My favorite part of the show was the end of the first set when they played a swing song with a kick-ass drum solo. I love swing music as it gives each musician a chance to shine and Pink Martini didn't disappoint!

As always, looking forward to more shows in the future!

DC

Pink Martini