Pink Martini Added to North Carolina Symphony’s 2012/13 Pops Series

Pink Martini will return to Raleigh this December for three holiday celebrations with the North Carolina Symphony, the orchestra announced today. Packing its unique blend of red-hot world music and retro-lounge cool, the band joins the Symphony, conducted by Sarah Hicks, for three Pops Series performances over two days at downtown Raleigh’s Meymandi Concert Hall.

The concerts, titled “Holiday Pops: A Pink Martini Christmas” will feature, among other selections, music from the band’s acclaimed 2011 holiday album Joy to the World. They take place on Friday, Dec. 21 at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 22 at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. 

Led by Oregon-native Thomas Lauderdale and their “Diva Next Door,” China Forbes, Pink Martini has turned a captivating sound—a mix of classical, jazz, Latin, samba and good, old-fashioned pop—into one of the hottest acts in music. Their unique combination of Hollywood lounge class and world influence offers the perfect blend of seductive and new age sounds.

“Pink Martini definitely is an original force in contemporary music,” wrote The Washington Times in 2005. “It also bridges, better than any band in recent memory, the high-brow/pop culture divide.”

Pink Martini has performed its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and North America. 

“Pink Martini is a rollicking around-the-world musical adventure,” says founder Lauderdale, and a globe-trotting touring schedule and more than a decade of breakout success have not altered his motivations. “If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, hopefully we’d be that band.”

The twelve-member group has performed with top orchestras around the world, including the Boston Pops, Los Angeles Philharmonic and BBC Concert Orchestra in London. Pink Martini has also released eight CDs, including 2009’s Splendor in the Grass, hailed as “swiftly intoxicating and elegantly chilled” by London’s Telegraph, and 2011’s holiday album Joy to the World.

Tickets to “Holiday Pops: A Pink Martini Christmas” are currently only available by subscribing to the orchestra’s six-concert Pops Series or three-concert Pops Matinee Series.

For details and to purchase tickets to either offering, visit the series subscription page of the North Carolina Symphony’s website at www.ncsymphony.org/subscriptions. Subscriptions may also be purchased over the phone by calling North Carolina Symphony Audience Services at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.

Single-concert tickets will be available online and by phone beginning August 6. Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh.

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