Thomas Lauderdale

Thomas Lauderdale is a pianist and the founder of Pink Martini, a Portland, Oregon ensemble that blends lounge, jazz, classical, and international pop into a cosmopolitan sound. Listeners at these Pacific Symphony dates can expect an evening built around Pink Martini's sound, with the group joining the orchestra for cross-genre arrangements rather than a traditional classical piano recital.

Expect a program built for a big room and a wide audience rather than a solo recital of concert repertoire. Lauderdale's piano playing tends to sit inside lush, orchestrated arrangements, moving between cocktail-lounge swing, Latin and French pop rhythms, and songs sung in multiple languages. With Pacific Symphony, the evening will likely draw on Pink Martini's catalog of retro-tinged originals and covers, arranged with strings and horns so the orchestra becomes part of the band's sound rather than a backdrop. Listeners who enjoy a mix of old Hollywood glamour, bossa nova lilt, and playful multilingual vocals will find this closer to a supper-club show blown up to orchestral scale than a classical concert. The pacing tends to favor variety and audience engagement over long, developed movements.