Chicago Symphony Orchestra returns for Hill performance

The 201st University Musical Society performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will feature the Marcus Roberts Trio in a new twist on an old favorite. Roberts, a jazz pianist and former member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, will deliver a performance of his own version of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at 8 p.m. Dec. 8 in Hill Auditorium.

Roberts’ critically acclaimed 1996 recording “Portraits in Blue” explores and reinterprets the jazz elements in Gershwin’s concert music.

“The basic goal of the Rhapsody in Blue project is to showcase the art of improvisation from the jazz musician’s perspective within a semi-classical form,” Roberts says. Atlanta Symphony music director Robert Spano will conduct.

Tickets are $10-$90 and are available online at www.ums.org, by phone at (734) 764-2538 or at the Michigan League ticket office.

‘Barnum’s Nightingale’ to play Clements Library

The musical fable “Barnum’s Nightingale,” about 19th century icon Jenny Lind and her successful 1850 American tour managed by P. T. Barnum, will be presented in performances at 8 p.m. Dec. 8-9 and 2 p.m. Dec. 10 in the Great Hall of the William L. Clements Library.

The musical was written and directed by Joan Morris, adjunct associate professor of music. “Barnum’s Nightingale” is told by author Hans Christian Andersen, and recreates the discordant relationship between the cultured European vocalist and the irrepressible promoter.

Carmen Pelton will star as Jenny Lind with Malcolm Tulip as P. T. Barnum and Hans Christian Andersen; Joan Morris portrays Lind’s cousin and companion Josephine Ahmansson; and Louis Nagel portrays accompanist/husband Otto Goldschmidt.

Advance tickets are available at the Clements Library at (734) 764-2347, or at the door. Prices are $5 for students; $15 for Clements Library associates and $20 for the general public.