Calendar for the week

thursday
february 5
Miami Festival of Discovery: An international passel of hot young pianists will dazzle you with their digits for three days at what sounds like an event dedicated to Christopher Columbus but is actually an exploration of musical virtuosity. Today and tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Edna Golandsky, of New York's Taubman Institute of Piano, will lecture on proper technique. At 2:00 p.m. both days she will conduct master classes. At 7:00 p.m. (again, both days) preconcert lectures take place; at 8:00 tonight Gabriela Montero, a bronze medalist in the 1995 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, performs works by Albeniz, Granados, Liszt, and of course Chopin. Tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Russia's Konstantin Lifschitz performs works by Beethoven, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. At 10:30 a.m. Saturday Montero, Lifschitz, and Boris Berezovsky (gold medalist at 1990's Tchaikovsky competition) hold forth in conversation. At 3:00 that afternoon Brazilian pianist Flavio Varani offers a lecture and concert saluting his countryman Heitor Villa-Lobos. The festival ends at 8:00 p.m. with Berezovsky performing works by Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, and Medtner. All events take place at the Lincoln Theatre (555 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach). Admission ranges from $20 for a lecture or master class to $120 for a three-day pass to all events except concerts. Tickets for those range from $10 to $50. Call 538-2121. (NK)

friday
february 6
Grand Hotel des Etrangers: Does the thought of staying in a hotel and sleeping in an unfamiliar bed give you nightmares? Perhaps that (and the poetry of Claude Beausoleil) is what inspired Montreal-based Victor Pilon and Michel Lemieux to create this stage production, which is on its way to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., but first makes a stop in Miami for the Miami Light Project. This unsettling fusion of stage and cinema features two live actors communing with virtual characters and holographic images that embody their memories and dreams. Showtime is 8:00 tonight and tomorrow at the Colony Theater (1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach). Tickets cost $20 for the show either evening; $35 for tomorrow's performance and meet-the-artist reception afterward. Call 531-3747. (NK)

Miami City Ballet: South Florida's foremost ballet troupe bounces back into the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts (1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach) this weekend with its third program of the season, featuring La Casa de Bernarda Alba, a world premiere by resident choreographer Jimmy Gamonet De Los Heros. Tony Award-winning composer Richard Adler provides the original score for the work, which is based on Federico Garcia Lorca's sinister drama about a stern widowed matriarch and her five conniving daughters. The bill also includes August Bournoville's Italian Suite and George Balanchine's Raymonda Variations. Performances take place tonight and tomorrow at 8:00, with a 2:00 p.m. matinee Sunday. Tickets range from $17 to $55. Call 532-4880. (NK)

Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets with Sam Myers: Fifteen years ago Anson Funderburgh and Sam Myers met at the George Street Grocery. They didn't bump carts; they bumped notes, so to speak. The Grocery is not a supermarket but a Jackson, Mississippi, nightclub where Funderburgh's blues ensemble the Rockets performed on a regular basis. One evening harmonica player/singer Sam Myers sat in and so impressed Funderburgh with his gritty voice and boisterous harp playing that when the Rockets' singer departed four years later, the band's leader quickly recruited Myers to take his place. In 1996, to commemorate their tenth anniversary together, Funderburgh and Myers recorded That's What They Want on the Black Top label. The album contains their distinctive original tunes and covers of Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'" and Delbert McClinton's "Monkey Around." At Stella Blue (1661 Meridian Ave., Miami Beach) at midnight the band hopes to give you what you want -- a rousing show. Admission is ten dollars. Call 532-4788. (NK)

Miami Festival of Discovery: See Thursday.

saturday
february 7
Luis Miguel: A screen and song sensation since the age of twelve, Luis Miguel has the megastar thing down pat. At sixteen he signed a long-term contract with Warner Music International and has since released a dozen albums of pop tunes and romantic boleros that appeal to fans of all ages and which have gone gold and platinum all over the world. He has won a multitude of awards. He recorded "Come Fly with Me" with Frank Sinatra for Ol' Blue Eyes's album Duets II. He's got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Now a mere 27, Miguel continues his seemingly endless star trip with an concert tour, coming to the Miami Arena (721 NW First Ave.) tonight and tomorrow. A few obstructed-view seats remain for tonight's show; good seats are available for tomorrow's 8:00 p.m. concert. Tickets range from $35 to $60. Call 530-4400. (NK)

International Map Fair: So you failed geography, but somehow you still love maps -- even though you have difficulty reading them. For the next two days you can go absolutely map-mad at this event, which welcomes dealers, collectors, and experts from all parts of the globe to the Historical Museum of Southern Florida (101 W. Flagler St.). Today from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. attend a panel discussion on the theft and security of historic maps, listen to professor Gunter Schilder from Utrecht University in the Netherlands deliver the keynote address on the golden age of Dutch cartography, or mingle with other aficionados in the marketplace or at a cocktail reception. From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. tomorrow take a boat tour of Biscayne Bay with historian Paul George, hang out on land and look at more maps, or attend a workshop on collecting by antique map dealer Robert Ross. Forty-five dollars gets you into events and program sessions all weekend except the boat tour, which costs $20 extra; one-day admission is $25. If you just want to see the marketplace or have an expert evaluate your maps, admission is four dollars. Call 375-1492. (NK)