The University of Iowa School of Music will present its third free Improvisation for Classical Musicians event of the semester at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, in the Riverside Recital Hall.

President Obama will speak at the University of Iowa Field House Wednesday. The event will begin around 1 p.m., and doors open at 10 a.m. Tickets to the free event are required and will be available at the University Box Office in the Iowa Memorial Union starting at noon Monday, April 23.

Writer Nathan Englander, an alumnus of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will return as a guest of the workshop to present a free reading at 8 p.m. Monday, April 30, in the Frank Conroy Reading Room of the Dey House.

University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop alumni will be featured in free readings at 7 p.m. May 2 and 3, in Prairie Lights books and streamed live at www.writinguniversity.org.

Organist Gregory Hand will be joined by trumpeter Amy Schendel to present a University of Iowa School of Music faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, in Iowa City’s Zion Lutheran Church.

The University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts will present the 2012 Iowa New Play Festival, the most ambitious new-play festival in collegiate theater, with readings, staged productions, and discussion from Monday, April 30, through Saturday, May 5, in the UI Theatre Building.

What you need to know if you're attending today's speech, following it online, or simply navigating campus.

The University of Iowa Chamber Orchestra and the All-University String Orchestra will share a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 29, in the Riverside Recital Hall.

The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop will present free readings by four of its faculty members in events at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, and Friday, April 27, in the Frank Conroy Reading Room of the Dey House. The Wednesday reading will feature fiction writer Kevin Brockmeier and poet Jonathan Thirkield.

The University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of William LaRue Jones and featuring internationally recognized mezzo-soprano Katharine Goeldner, will perform works by Berlioz and Richard Strauss at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union.

Live literary streams April 24-29 on writinguniversity.org will feature two Poetry Month events and the book launch of a former University of Iowa engineering student whose comments to the Iowa Legislature made him an instant celebrity.

The Chamber Winds of the University of Iowa School of Music will present a free concert at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, in the Riverside Recital Hall.