"Pink Martini is like a romantic Hollywood musical of the 1940s or 50s - but with a global perspective which is modern," says founder and artistic director Thomas M. Lauderdale. "We bring melodies and rhythms from different parts of the world together to create something which is new and beautiful."

The Portland, Oregon-based 'little orchestra' was founded in 1994. In the years following Pink Martini grew from four musicians to its current twelve, and has gone on to perform its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Canada and the United States.

"All of us in the band have studied different languages and music from different parts of the world. So inevitably, because everyone in the band contributes in the writing and arrainging of songs, the repertoire is wildly diverse. At one moment, you feel like you're in the middle of a samba parade in Rio de Janeiro, and the next moment, you are suddenly in a French music hall of the 1930s or in a palazzo in Napoli. It's like an urban musical travelogue," says Thomas M. Lauderdale.

"This is rich, hugely approachable music, utterly cosmopolitan yet utterly unpretentious. And it seems to speak to just about everybody," says the Washington Post