UMS and the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD) present the U-M Gershwin Initiative’s scholarly edition of this landmark score.

Porgy and Bess is without rival as the most famous 20th-century American opera. Since its 1935 debut, this story of a disabled beggar transformed by the unexpected love of Bess has been performed worldwide and features such well-known songs as “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’,” “My Man’s Gone Now,” “Summertime,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” In addition to the concert, UMS and SMTD will host related symposia and other educational activities as part of an ongoing scholarly examination of the art of George and Ira Gershwin.