Thomas Lauderdale: Rhapsody in Blue, Martinis in Pink?

When I read pianist Thomas Lauderdale's personal bio page on the CSO's website, it was less like an artist profile and more like the description of a wonderful character from Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegone or the TV series Portlandia. Lauderdale was born in Indiana, but moved to Portland in 1982 and began studying piano with Sylvia Killman who still serves as his coach and mentor. Here are the two of them, just as teacher and student, no pretense, no pressures. It's lovely to watch. He then took the Portland orchestra scene by storm as a piano soloist performing with the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest and Oregon Ballet Theatre. As if this was some small change, he also was an active political proponent of progressive movements for everything from civil rights to public broadcasting. Oh, and he graduated from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature in 1992. In 1994, Lauderdale founded the group Pink Martini as a "little orchestra" with his Harvard classmate China Forbes. Francophiles may be familiar with their very first song written together, Sympathique, which was nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards and still serves as a sort of workers' anthem in France. I still remember the first time I hear the song when I was nine or ten. http://youtu.be/nLaY4aksfRo If you are not impressed with his achievements in politics and the arts or even his gorgeous touch for the piano, take a minute and just listen to him speak about working with the van Trapps and Pink Martini. (Yes, THE von Trapps.) I could listen to this man talk about music forever. http://youtu.be/3HQFWGqRq_0 This Weekend For the last weekend of February, Columbus wraps up a month of incredible works that have highlighted the relationship between Classical and Jazz with one of the most celebrated and beloved American piano compositions to be played by Thomas Lauderdale with Donato Cabrera conducting Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Obviously there is more on the program than the headlining piece, but it could stand alone and I would still beg to attend. The performance is Part 3 of the CSO's American Roots Festival and it features another American composer, George Antheil, and German composer Kurt Weill. Program: Dvo?ák:  Overture to Humoresque Joplin:  Overture to Treemonisha Weill:  Little Threepenny Music Gershwin:  Rhapsody in Blue Antheil:  Jazz Symphony Stravinsky:  Scherzo a la Russe