No matter how cold it gets outside, the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium will fill with warm – and sometimes fiery – music on the afternoon of Sunday, January 21, when the U-M Life Sciences Orchestra takes the stage.

The LSO and special guest piano soloist Louis Nagel will present a free 4 p.m. performance of works from across the classical spectrum. The orchestra, led by Chelsea Gallo, brings together medical, health and science faculty, staff, students and alumni from across the university.

The concert is free and open to the public, as is a pre-concert lecture at 3:15 p.m. by Gallo and Nagel in the lower level of the building. 

No tickets are required, though the LSO accepts donations to support its concerts. A new easy way to show support for the LSO is by texting the word ARTS to the number 50555, which will trigger a process to give $10 to the orchestra.

First on the program is German composer Carl Maria von Weber’s overture from the 1821 opera Der Freischütz, led by assistant conductor Tal Benatar.

Next, Ludwig von Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, played by Nagel, an emeritus professor of music at U-M. Nagel, who is renowned as both a performer and teacher, retired from the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance in 2016 after 47 years.

The LSO will close out the concert by leaping forward more than a century to 1930s Russia, with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47.

Gallo and Benatar are both students in the UMSMTD’s nationally known orchestral conducting program. Gallo holds the Gilbert S. Omenn, M.D. Music Director position with the LSO, made possible by a gift from its namesake, the first U-M executive vice president for medical affairs and a longtime supporter of the LSO.

The orchestra is part of the Gifts of Art program, which brings the world of art and music to Michigan Medicine, the U-M academic medical center. The LSO gives members an outlet for their musical talents and a chance to interact with one another across academic disciplines and professions. The orchestra made its concert debut in January 2001 and plays two free concerts each year.