“If we started today, we wouldn’t have a future”: Pink Martini, 30 years of music and diversity

Pink Martini isn't done with its Parisian honeymoon. The orchestra, founded by the vibrant Thomas Lauderdale in 1994, found its chosen home here a long time ago. With its inaugural hit Sympathique , and its unforgettable refrain inspired by verses by Guillaume Apollinaire set to music by Francis Poulenc ("I don't want to work... I just want to forget, and then I smoke"), this Portland (Oregon) ensemble has carved out a place for itself with a sense of hyperactivity that contradicts its first hit. A title that opened the doors to success and allowed them to develop a repertoire of covers drawn as much from South American song, jazz, pop or classical.

For the anniversary concert in his hometown, Lauderdale, the orchestra's conductor, donned an outfit reminiscent of the dresses worn by Audrey Hepburn . Whimsical and colorful on stage, the fifty-year-old is, behind the scenes, a pioneer in the defense of…