Writer, podcaster, former NPR host, and musician Ari Shapiro celebrates his birthday on September 30. It’s been a busy summer for the Pink Martini All-Stars singer, who spent the better part of June and July on tour with the band, an experience he documented in a tour diary published on his Substack earlier this year.
In it, Shapiro described the usual pleasures of traveling: tasty meals, beautiful views, visits to museums—but also the thrill of getting to be onstage with the “little orchestra” he once loved as a high schooler in Portland:
“It is crazy and surreal to me that all these years later I get to travel the world having adventures and making music with people I’ve admired since I was a kid. And while there’s a fantastical element of escapism to the whole experience, it also feels like we’re doing something a little bit useful.
Especially when the world looks dark and bleak, it’s no small thing to get audiences on their feet dancing together to music in a dozen languages. At each show, I have stood at the front of the stage and said how grateful we are—as an American band—to be welcomed so warmly into Cyprus, Romania, Hungary, Greece, and Turkey. And every night, the audience has cheered at that statement. I feel lucky and grateful to be a part of this troupe, representing an inclusive and joyful vision of the United States all over the world.”
On December 10, the Pink Martini All-Stars will make their debut at the Center for the Arts, bringing some of that much-needed joy just in time for the holidays. Shapiro will be joined by long-time collaborators Edna Vazquez and Jimmie Herrod as he treats audiences to a mix of seasonal favorites and new songs, featuring the ensemble’s glamorous big band sound and their “utterly cosmopolitan yet utterly unpretentious style” (Washington Post).
Tickets are on sale now at the Center for the Arts website.