Get It While It’s Hot

When George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique made its Paris debut in 1926, his brazen composition literally blew toupees and hats off the public and stirred fistfights in the audience. The performance earned him notoriety as the “Bad Boy of Music.” The composer’s magnum opus featured 16 player pianos, electric bells, a siren, and three airplane propellers capturing the clamor of the industrial age. During Antheil’s lifetime, it was never performed the way he envisioned — the technology to synchronize all of those player pianos didn’t exist. But now it does, and tonight at 7, the Wolfsonian-FIU delivers the booming haymaker as the hard-swinging maestro himself would have wanted, thanks to eight computer-compatible Yamaha pianos. The Wolf will also be screening Bad Boy Made Good, a documentary about Antheil’s life, after which they’ll knock the lights out on the performance with a riotous Dada party. Tickets are $50 for members and NWS subscribers and $60 for all others. Call 305-531-1001, or visit www.wolfsonian.org.

At Camposition Studio (801 SW Third Ave., Miami), Field/Miami culminates its fall session with trademark edge during Winter Field Day, an informal showing of avant works in progress. Beginning at 8 tonight, nearly a dozen artists will whipsaw the space with a flurry of flamenco, comedy, experimental monologues, and an exploration of the sacred, feminine, nerve-jangling “semi-abstracted biomorphic narratives.” There’s a suggested donation of $8.01. Call 786-399-7375, or visit www.camposition.org.
Sat., Dec. 1, 2007