The Wartburg Community Symphony will observe the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s iconic “Rhapsody in Blue” during its third concert of the 2023-24 season on Saturday, Feb. 17.

The concert, which begins at 2 p.m. in Wartburg’s Neumann Auditorium, will showcase pianist Madeline Rogers and clarinetist Eric Wachmann in a celebration of jazz as America’s great art form. A preconcert talk will begin at 1 p.m. in Neumann Auditorium. Tickets are $20 for adults and free for Wartburg College students and youth ages 18 and younger. They can be purchased online at www.wartburg.edu/symphony and will be available at the door.

Rogers will solo with the orchestra for “Rhapsody in Blue,” which premiered Feb. 12, 1924, in New York City. Gershwin was 25 at the time, and the piece became his most widely known work. Wachmann will perform “Clarinet Concerto,” composed and first performed in 1940 by clarinetist and band leader Artie Shaw. The program also will include Gershwin’s “Lullaby for Strings,” “Dances in the Canebrakes” by Florence Price and Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” performed by the orchestra and the Iowa Bop Collective.

“We are thrilled to welcome the talents of Madeline Rogers, Eric Wachmann and the Iowa Bop Collective in this upcoming concert,” said Rebecca Nederhiser, conductor and artistic director. “It will be a true collaborative event, highlighting the vast talent within the Cedar Valley and beyond.”

Rogers is an accomplished solo and collaborative performer in the United States and abroad. She is a visiting assistant professor of piano at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. Originally from Eldorado, Illinois, she earned a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Southern Illinois University, a Master of Music from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as a student of André Watts, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with Paul Barnes.

She regularly performs with AmadeusLex, a chamber group headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, and is an active recitalist.

Wachmann is a professor of music at Wartburg College, where he teaches clarinet and music theory. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Music from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Fred Ormand. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he studied with clarinetist Kelly Burke.

He has performed extensively with professional orchestral, chamber and jazz ensembles in the United States, Canada and Europe. He is principal clarinet with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls symphony, plays bass clarinet with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and has performed with jazz ensembles at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Ozone Jazz Festival and North Sea Jazz Festival.