January Highlights

The Smart Museum of Art
“Shepherds and Plowhands: Work and Leisure in the 19th Century”
Tuesday, Jan. 18 through Sunday, April 24
Museum hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday; and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
5550 S. Greenwood Ave. 702-0200. http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu. Free.

This collection-based exhibition will gather scenes of rural labor and leisure by various 19th-century French artists. The exhibition, which consists mainly of works on paper, will look at the Etching Revival artists’ renewed interest in printmaking in relation to 19th-century notions of the nobility of work and the individual laborer.

The University of Chicago Presents
Christopher O’Riley Plays Radiohead, Shostakovich
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20
Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St. 702-8068. http://chicagopresents.uchicago.edu. $7.

Pianist Christopher O’Riley, host of the radio show “From the Top,” will perform his transcriptions of music by the art-rock band Radiohead, along with Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, in a program titled “True Love Waits.” An acclaimed performer, O’Riley has paired these works because he contends that a central harmonic language is shared by both the band and the 20th-century dissident composer. The first part of a double bill, the concert is followed by a second concert with O’Riley and members of the Miro Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21. At the second concert, O’Riley will present a more traditional program of piano quartets and a string trio, including works by Mozart and Brahms. This concert is $10 general, $5 students. Sponsored by Regents Park by the Clinton Companies, both concerts are offered at a special low price to encourage students and young families to experience live classical music.

Department of Music
Chicago Women’s Chorus
8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16
Bond Chapel, 1025 E. 58th St. 702-8069. http://music.uchicago.edu. Donations accepted.

The Chicago Women’s Chorus, a group of 32 women from the University and the community, will make its debut with a program titled “From and For Women.” Under the direction of Constance DeFotis, the group will perform two glorious works for female voices: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28.

Special Collections Research Center
“Dr. Bernard Fantus: Father of the Blood Bank”
Through Monday, Feb. 7
Exhibition hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Saturday. Special Collections Research Center, Joseph Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th St. 702-8705. http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/LibInfo/Librar-ies/SpCl/. Free.

In 1937, Bernard Fantus established what is now recognized as the world’s first blood bank when he opened a blood preservation laboratory at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital. Drawing on materials recently donated by Fantus’ niece, Muriel Fulton, this exhibition examines the creation of the blood bank and Fantus’ other significant achievements.