Going out

Xian Zhang: The star conductor leads the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Concert Orchestra through a program of Mendelssohn, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky with CCM Violin and Piano Concerto Competition winners taking the lead. 8 p.m. today, Patricia Corbett Theater, UC, free. 556-4183.

Artful evening: The Taft Museum of Art offers a slide lecture on painter James McNeill Whistler with Consulting Curator of Painting and Sculpture John Wilson. 6:30 p.m. today, 3825 West Fork Road, free. 369-4472.

Contemporary jazz: Grammy-winning saxophonist Bob Belden leads an evening of new jazz with the new Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. 9 p.m.-midnight today, Blue Wisp Jazz Club, 318 E. Eighth St., downtown, $7. 241-9477.

On TV

Top pick: WB's Smallville wraps up a super season in which young Clark Kent (Tom Welling) finally kisses Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) in the start of a two-part season finale (9 p.m., Channels 64, 26).

• Critic John Kiesewetter also says viewers have a tough choice at 10 p.m.: Kim Delaney returns to NYPD Blue (Channels 9, 2); Stu proposes to Amy (Amy Brenneman) on Judging Amy (Channels 12, 7), and Jane Pauley signs off from Dateline NBC (Channels 5, 22).

New on CD

Critic's pick: Marilyn Manson leads the week's releases with his Golden Age of Grotesque (Interscope; $18.98 comes with free DVD).

• Third Eye Blind rocks Out of the Vein (Elektra; $18.98).

• Post-modern troubadour Todd Snider stretches out with an in-concert set of stories and songs on Near Truths & Hotels Rooms Live (Oh Boy!; $16.98).

New on DVD/Video

Critic's picks: Comedian, an insightful documentary about the development of Jerry Seinfeld's new stand-up comedy act, is this week's favorite for Enquirer film critic Margaret A. McGurk.

• Notably new to DVD this week is the 1979 comedy The In-Laws, with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, soon to re-appear in theaters as a re-make with Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas.

Planning ahead

24 hours out: Best-selling suspense author Lee Child is at Books & Co. to introduce his new thriller Persuader. 7 p.m. Wednesday, 350 E. Stroop Road, Kettering. (800) 777-4881.

48 hours out: Greater Hamilton Civic Theater opens a production of Neil Simon's coming-of-age military comedy Biloxi Blues. 8 p.m. Thursday, Parrish Auditorium, Miami University Hamilton, 1601 Peck Blvd., $12. (513) 737-7529.

72 hours till Friday: The granddaddy of all choral festivals, the Cincinnati May Festival, gets started with a rich all-Verdi program with star soloists Kallen Esperian and James Morris. 8 p.m., Music Hall, $11-$60. 381-3300.

E-mail jknippenberg@enquirer.com