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Thomas Lauderdale | |
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 Thomas M. Lauderdale performing with Pink Martini at the Crystal Ballroom (Portland, Oregon) in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Mack Lauderdale |
| Born | July 14, 1970 Oakland, California |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, pianist |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 1982 - present |
| Labels | Heinz Records |
| Website | Pink Martini website |
Thomas Mack Lauderdale (born July 14, 1970) is an American musician and pianist, largely known for his work with his Portland-based band Pink Martini.
Thomas Mack Lauderdale was born in 1970 in Oakland, California, and adopted by Kerby Roy and Linda Sue, née Mikesell. In 1972, the family moved to Indiana, where his father was pastor at Eel River Church of the Brethren. After church services, Lauderdale usually went to the piano, and tried to replicate the hymns he heard. His parents bought for him an upright piano at an auction and so he began his formal musical studies at age six with Patricia Garrison of North Manchester, Indiana and later, Joyanne Jones at Indiana University/Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
In 1976, his father resigned from the ministry and the Lauderdale family opened a plant nursery near North Manchester. The family moved to Portland, Oregon in 1982, after his parents divorced and his father came out of the closet. In the 1990s, his parents went on several talk shows – including 20/20 , Oprah , Jane Whitney, and Christina - to talk about what happens when a spouse comes out. Kerby returned to the ministry, and is the first openly gay pastor in his denomination. He performed the service when his former wife Linda remarried in 2000.
In Portland, Oregon Lauderdale began his studies with Sylvia Killman in 1982. Killman and Lauderdale remain close friends. Lauderdale won the "Oregon Symphony's annual Corbett Competition" in 1985, marking the beginning of a long association with conductor Norman Leyden. He graduated from Portland's Ulysses S. Grant High School in 1988, where he was student body president and editor of The Grantonian. Lauderdale studied at Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in History and Literature. [1]
| This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(June 2016) |
After seeing the Del Rubio Triplets on Pee-Wee Herman's Christmas Special, Lauderdale arranged for them to travel to Portland, Oregon in October 1994 to give a series of concerts at retirement homes, nursing homes, and hospitals. After a week of performances and appearances, the Del Rubio Triplets performed at a fundraising concert at Cinema 21 in Northwest Portland. Stuck for an opening act for the group, Lauderdale threw on a Betsey Johnson cocktail dress, and joined by a bass player, a bongo player, and a singer, took to the stage as Pink Martini.
Pink Martini’s official website advertising themselves say their “first concerts were often politically motivated, with performances at events for progressive causes such as the environment, affordable housing, civil rights, libraries, and public broadcasting.” [2]
Pink Martini has grown from four musicians to its current twelve. Singer China Forbes – who Lauderdale met at the college, Harvard University – joined the band in 1995. The band has performed its multi-lingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia, Australia, Canada and the United States. In 1998, the ensemble made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Norman Leyden. Pink Martini has since performed with over 50 symphony orchestras around the world including the Boston Pops, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Orchestra, and with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Other appearances include two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall in 2007 & 2009; 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, 2011 & 2014; the opening party of the New York Museum of Modern Art; the Governor's Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia; two sold-out concerts at Paris's Olympia theatre in 2011; and Paris's fashion house Lanvin's 10-year anniversary celebration for designer Alber Elbaz in 2012.
The band has collaborated and performed with numerous artists, such as Jimmy Scott, Carol Channing, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Jane Powell, Henri Salvador, Chavela Vargas, New York performer Joey Arias, puppeteer Basil Twist, Georges Moustaki, Michael Feinstein, filmmaker Gus Van Sant, Courtney Taylor, Taylor of The Dandy Warhols, clarinetist and conductor Norman Leyden, Japanese legend Hiroshi Wada, Italian actress and songwriter Alba Clemente, DJ Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi Valenti, NPR White House Correspondent Ari Shapiro, the original cast of Sesame Street, March Fourth Marching Band, The von Trapps, the Bonita Vista High School Marching Band from Chula Vista, California, and the Pacific Youth Choir of Portland, Oregon.
Pink Martini has released seven studio albums and one live concert DVD on the band's own record label, Heinz Records and partnered with other labels worldwide, including Naïve Records in France, Wrasse Records in the United Kingdom and South America, Audiogram in Canada, Urtext in Mexico, Random Records in Argentina and Chile, Inertia Recordings in Australia and New Zealand, Ales in Korea, and Top 2 in Southeast Asia. The band's debut album Sympathique was released in 1997, and received nominations for "Song of the Year" and "Best New Artist" in France's Victoires de la Musique awards. Sympathique (1997), Hang on Little Tomato (2004), and Hey Eugene! (2007), Splendor In The Grass (2009) and Joy To The World (2010) have all gone gold in France, Turkey, Greece, and Canada selling over 2.5 million copies worldwide.
In Fall 2011 the band released two albums – A Retrospective , a collection of the band's most beloved songs spanning their 17-year career, which includes eight previously unreleased tracks, and 1969 , an album of collaborations with legendary Japanese singer Saori Yuki. 1969 has been certified platinum in Japan, reaching #2 on the Japanese charts with the Japan Times raving "the love and respect Saori Yuki and Pink Martini have for the pop tradition shines through on every track." [3]
In addition to his work with Pink Martini, Lauderdale has collaborated with cabaret performer and singer Meow Meow, the surf band Satan's Pilgrims and writer Tom Spanbauer. In Spring 2008, he completed his first film score for Chiara Clemente's documentary Our City Dreams, a portrait of five New York City-based women artists of different generations. In 2008, he performed as the featured piano soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland under the direction of Roger Doyle, and Gershwin's Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini. [4] In 2011 Lauderdale again appeared as the featured soloist with the Oregon Symphony, this time under the direction of Carlos Kalmar.
He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest, the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland and Oregon Ballet Theatre (where he collaborated with choreographer James Canfield and visual artists Storm Tharp and Malia Jensen on a ballet based on the original story of Bambi, written by Felix Salten in 1923).
Beginning in high school, Lauderdale became interested in politics. He worked in Portland City Hall, first under Mayor J. E. "Bud" Clark in the office of international relations, and later under City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the city's civil rights ordinance. He was appointed by Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee; by Mayor Clark to the Metropolitan Youth Commission and by City Commissioner Mike Lindberg to the Public Safety in the Parks Task Force. In 1992, he was involved in the No on 9 and No on 13 Campaigns, in response to measures that would amend the Oregon constitution to declare homosexuality illegal.
In June 2009, Lauderdale organized a rally of support for Portland Mayor Sam Adams, the first openly gay mayor of a major American city. Adams had a “romantic relationship” with 17-year old intern Beau Breedlove that included kissing and romance before he turned 18. [5] The Times reports that the "Oregonian, the local police union and JustOut, a local gay periodical" were calling for his resignation. [6] Portlanders at Lauderdale's rally compared Adams to Bill Clinton, saying he only lied about sex and should not resign. [7]
In October 2011, Lauderdale and Pink Martini organized and performed at a rally in support of the Occupy movement. The rally took place in downtown Portland in Pioneer Courthouse Square and included speeches and performances by Storm Large as well as Oregon congressmen Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio. [8]
In August 2024 Lauderdale played piano for the memorial service of former Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt who is perhaps most known for raping children. [9]
Lauderdale lives in the Harker Building, a 9,600 square foot building in the downtown’s commercial district in Portland, Oregon. [10]
Pink Martini is an American band founded in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon. Group members call it a little orchestra that crosses several styles, such as classical, latin, traditional pop, and jazz. The co-lead vocalists of Pink Martini are China Forbes and Storm Large.
China Forbes is an American singer and songwriter who has been the lead singer of the band Pink Martini since 1995. In 2022 she was the Ella Fitzgerald award winner at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the "Portland Symphony Society" in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. Its home venue is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland's Cultural District.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP) is the oldest youth orchestra in the United States, established in 1924 as the Portland Junior Symphony (PJS). Now based in Portland, Oregon, the orchestra's origin dates back to 1910, when music teacher Mary V. Dodge began playing music for local children in Burns, Oregon. Dodge purchased instruments for the children and organized the orchestra, which would become known as the Sagebrush Symphony Orchestra. After touring the state, including a performance at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, the orchestra disbanded in 1918 when Dodge moved to Portland. There, Dodge opened a violin school and became music director of the Irvington School Orchestra.
Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) is an annual celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his musical legacy, held in Eugene, Oregon, United States, in late June and early July.
Norman Fowler Leyden was an American conductor, composer, arranger, and clarinetist. He worked in film and television and is perhaps best known as the conductor of the Oregon Symphony Pops orchestra. He co-wrote with Glenn Miller the theme "I Sustain the Wings" in 1943, which was used to introduce the World War II radio series.
Sympathique is the first studio album from American band Pink Martini. It was released on November 11, 1997 by Pink Martini's own record label, Heinz Records. As of 2013 it has sold over one million copies worldwide.
Hang On Little Tomato is the second studio album by American band Pink Martini, released on October 19, 2004, by their own record label, Heinz Records. It has been certified gold in France, Canada, Greece, and Turkey. It was then certified double platinum in France by the UPFI in 2013. In 2014, it was awarded a platinum certification from the Independent Music Companies Association, denoting sales in excess of 400,000 copies across Europe. As of October 2013, it had sold 750,000 copies worldwide.
Eugene Linden was an American conductor. He conducted the first public performance of the Tacoma Philharmonic Orchestra in March 1934 and directed the Seattle Symphony from 1948 to 1950. He is also credited as founder of the now defunct Northwest Grand Opera Company.
Hillsboro Symphony Orchestra (HSO) is an amateur orchestra based in Hillsboro in the Portland metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Oregon. Founded in 2001, the non-profit group has 86 musicians and is led by conductor Jeff Hornick. They perform three concerts per year at Hillsboro's Hidden Creek Community Center. Additionally, the orchestra also has five ensembles that perform at other events in the area.
Jacques Gershkovitch (1884–1953) was a Russian conductor and musician who became the first music director of the Portland Junior Symphony, the first youth orchestra in the United States, based in Portland, Oregon. Born to a musical family in Irkutsk, Gershkovitch was sent to Saint Petersburg in his late teens to study at the Imperial Conservatory. In 1913, he graduated with honors in flute and conducting, and was awarded the Schubert Scholarship for a year of study under German conductor Arthur Nikisch in Berlin. Gershkovitch returned to Irkutsk to enlist during World War I, and by 1916 he had become head of the Imperial Russian Army's military symphony orchestra. He held this position through the Russian Revolution and thereafter, as concerts were often presented as benefits for orphans and the Red Cross.
Huw Edwards is a Welsh conductor. Edwards' conducting career began at age seventeen when he became music director of the Maidstone Opera Company in England. He later attended the University of Surrey, where he conducted the college orchestra along with an ensemble that he formed himself. At age twenty-three, he won a conducting competition which sent him to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He then held a lecturer position at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he was also a doctoral candidate. Edwards was conductor and music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic from 1995 to 2002 followed by the Seattle Youth Symphony from 2002 to 2005. He served as music director of the Portland Columbia Symphony from 2000 to 2012 and with the Olympia Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2020.
A Retrospective is the first compilation album by the American group Pink Martini, released in September 2011 in the United Kingdom and the following month in the United States, Australia and Canada. The album contains twenty-one tracks from six studio albums. Guest artists include Michael Feinstein, French singer and songwriter Georges Moustaki and director Gus Van Sant ; the compilation also features remixes by New York City disc jockey Johnny Dynell and Hiroshi Wada.
1969 is a collaborative studio album by American band Pink Martini and Japanese singer Saori Yuki, released in Japan on October 12, 2011, by EMI Music Japan and in the United States on November 1, 2011, by Heinz Records.
David Hattner is an American professional clarinetist and conductor currently serving as music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Raised in Toledo, Ohio, Hattner attended the Interlochen Arts Camp and Arts Academy, experiences which inspired him to become a professional musician and conductor. He graduated from the Arts Academy in 1986 and enrolled in Northwestern University where he studied clarinet performance under Robert Marcellus. In 1988 he placed second in the International Clarinet Association's Young Artist Competition and was selected to join the American-Soviet Youth Orchestra. He earned a music degree with honors in 1990.
Metropolitan Youth Symphony is a youth orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A, founded in 1974 by Lajos Balogh with a handful of students. It now consists of 400+ students across fifteen orchestra, band, strings, flute, percussion and jazz ensembles, led by an artistic team of thirteen conductors and directors. It has rehearsal sites in both Portland and Hillsboro, Oregon. MYS accepts young musicians from kindergarten through early college age at all levels of experience.
Kenji Bunch is an American composer and violist. Bunch currently serves as the artistic director of Fear No Music and teaches at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic. He is also the director of MYSfits, the most advanced string ensemble of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony.
The Portland Columbia Symphony is a symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, founded in 1982 as the Palatine Hill Symphony by Jerry Luedders. Then director of the school of music at Lewis & Clark College and conductor of the school's orchestra, Luedders formed the ensemble by recruiting the "best" players from several community orchestras. Rehearsals were originally held at Evans Auditorium on the campus of Lewis & Clark. Luedders served as conductor and music director until 1986.
Music for a Time of War is a 2011 concert program and subsequent album by the Oregon Symphony under the artistic direction of Carlos Kalmar. The program consists of four compositions inspired by war: Charles Ives'The Unanswered Question (1906), John Adams'The Wound-Dresser (1989), Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem (1940) and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 4 (1935). The program was performed on May 7, 2011, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon, and again the following day. Both concerts were recorded for album release. On May 12, the Oregon Symphony repeated the program at the inaugural Spring for Music Festival, at Carnegie Hall. The performance was broadcast live by KQAC and WQXR-FM, the classical radio stations serving Portland and the New York City metropolitan area, respectively. The concerts marked the Oregon Symphony's first performances of The Wound-Dresser as well as guest baritone Sanford Sylvan's debut with the company.
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