WEEKEND FORECAST

FRIDAY

DANCE

Young talent from Spain

A smaller, younger version of Spain’s Compania de Danza, Compania Nacional de Danza 2, is so good that one Boston critic wondered “why this troupe isn’t performing all over?” Created by artistic director Nacho Duato to give younger dancers, 17 to 21, training and performance opportunities, CND2 will dance Duato’s “Remansos,” “Gnawa” and “Rassemblement” as part of the “Dance at the Music Center” series.

Compania Nacional de Danza 2, Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. 7:30 p.m. Friday. $35 to $85. (213) 365-3500; www.ticketmaster.com.

* Also 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

MUSIC

A songbird and muse

Calling Dawn Upshaw his “muse,” composer Osvaldo Golijov has written several works for the esteemed soprano, including the opera “Ainadamar,” and the song cycle “Ayre.” The first song he wrote for her, “Lua Descolorida” (Colorless Moon), was inserted into his “St. Mark Passion” and also serves as one of his recent Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra. Upshaw will sing this work, and Lukas Foss’ “Time Cycle,” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Alexander Mickelthwate. Barber’s Toccata Festiva and Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances From West Side Story” complete the bill.

Los Angeles Philharmonic, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. Friday. $15 to $135. (323) 850-2000; www.laphil.com.

* Also 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

MUSEUMS

Colt’s deadly works of art: pistols

Upon receiving U.S. Patent No. 138 in 1836 for his “repeating pistols,” firearms capable of firing several times without needing to be reloaded, clearly an efficient invention, Samuel Colt embarked on the more artistic endeavor of designing embellished weaponry. While pleasing many aesthetically, such decoration has proved controversial as there are those who believe that a beautiful form in a weapon defeats its practical function as a deadly tool. The Autry National Center exhibits such exquisite 19th century pieces in its “Pistols: Dazzling Firearms.”

“Pistols: Dazzling Firearms,” Autry National Center, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles. Opens Friday. $3 to $9; children younger than 3, free. (323) 667-2000.

* Hours: Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beginning May 28 and ending Sept. 3, Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Ends Aug. 12.

POP MUSIC

Jammin’ in the desert

Coachella isn’t the only three-day music festival in the Southern California desert. The fifth annual Joshua Tree Music Festival offers a more modest scale and a menu that emphasizes roots and jam sensibilities. Saturday’s headliner, rock en espanol cut-ups Los Amigos Invisibles, share the spotlight with rising singer Brett Dennen, singer-songwriter Tom Freund, a project featuring Dave Murphy of STS9, plus other performers.

Joshua Tree Music Festival, Joshua Tree Lake Campground, 2601 Sunfair Road, Joshua Tree. Friday, $32. (877) 327-6265.

* Also Saturday, $42, and Sunday, $32; $90 for three-day pass.

MOVIES

To Paris, with love

Olivier Assayas, Joel and Ethan Coen, Isabel Coixet, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuaron, Walter Salles, Tom Tykwer and Alexander Payne are among the directors contributing to “Paris, Je t’Aime,” a mostly delightful set of 18 cinematic love notes to the City of Light, each set in a different arrondissement, or neighborhood. The international cast includes Steve Buscemi, Barbet Schroeder, Miranda Richardson, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Ludivine Sagnier, Bob Hoskins, Fanny Ardant, Maggie Gyllenhall, Lionel Dray, Elijah Wood, Emily Mortimer, Rufus Sewell, Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands.

“Paris, Je t’Aime” opens Friday in selected theaters.

BOOKS

Gronk’s world

East L.A. native Gronk, a performance artist and painter, rose to prominence in the 1970s as a founding member of the teenage multimedia art collective Asco (Spanish for nausea). The group contrived happenings and produced No Movies -- “films” without film -- engaging the dramatic pretense of cinema on the streets of Los Angeles without the pesky matter of filming the spectacle. The new book, “Gronk,” written by Max Benavidez, chronicles the artist’s wide-ranging play of forms and disciplines -- from murals to performance and stage design, crossing boundaries of gender, media and genre.

Gronk, Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 7 p.m. Friday. (310) 659-3110.

SATURDAY

MUSIC

Kahane returns

Pianist-conductor Jeffrey Kahane returns to the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for the first time since March, when he canceled upcoming concerts on the advice of his physician because of severe hypertension. Kahane will conduct the world premiere of Gernot Wolfgang’s “Desert Wind,” commissioned through the orchestra’s “Sound Investment” program, and works by Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Haydn. Violinist Lindsay Deutsch will make her LACO debut in “Summer” from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and Piazzolla’s “Cuartro estaciones portenas” (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires). Haydn’s Symphony No. 98 will conclude the program.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Ave., Glendale. 8 p.m. Saturday. $17 to $76. (213) 622-7001, Ext. 215; www.laco.org.* Also: 7 p.m. Sunday at Royce Hall, UCLA.

DANCE

Dial up your iPods

Leave it to modern dance pioneer Merce Cunningham to utilize three different spaces at the Orange County Performing Arts Center for his company’s first return engagement since 1997. An “Event,” a collage of excerpts from various dances, will open the evening at the new Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. “Beach Birds for Camera” will follow in the Community Plaza. His latest dance, “eyeSpace,” will conclude the program at Segerstrom Hall. The new piece asks the audience to listen to the music on an iPod, but people who don’t have one can borrow one there.

Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Saturday. $38 to $66. (Student rush, $15.) (714) 556-2787. www.ocpac.org.

JAZZ

Fascinating rhythms

Anthony Wilson’s varied career has led him across the full terrain of the jazz world, from backing Diana Krall to leading his own swinging nine-piece ensemble. This time the Grammy-nominated guitarist-composer immerses himself in the Brazilian music that has always fascinated him. Performing with Sao Paulo-born guitarist Chico Pinheiro, the duo explores the rich lode of Brazil/jazz connections via their own originals and the music of Ivan Lins, Dori Caymmi, Wayne Shorter and Joao Donato.

Anthony Wilson, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday. (323) 857-6000.

* Also at Spazio, 14755 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. 8 p.m. Tuesday. (818) 728-8400.

* Also at Steamers, 138 W. Commonwealth, Fullerton. 8:30 p.m. May 26. (714) 871-8800.

WORLD MUSIC

A unique hybrid

Imagine “American Idol” meets Taiwanese pop meets Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and you’ve still only scratched the surface of the Taiwanese a cappella “air band” Semiscon. Popular in Asia and Europe, the eight-voice ensemble sings in English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Cantonese and German, adding vocal percussion and simulated instruments to their unique versions of music reaching from the Bangles, the Rembrandts and ‘N Sync to traditional Chinese classics and international love songs.

Semiscon, Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, L.A. 8 p.m. Saturday. $25 and $40; children $12. (323) 461-3673.

ART

Allegorical statements

Using composites of found images as a springboard to create new compositions, Max Maslansky turns loose a cast of male archetypes: football players, superheroes and game show hosts -- each bearing the marks of our own collective anxieties and daydreams. Likewise, Maslansky’s paintings themselves bear the marks of their maker: the painterly drips and splatters humanize the allegorical statements within.

Max Maslansky, Cherry and Martin, 12611 Venice Blvd., L.A. Opens Saturday. (310) 398-7404.

* 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Ends June 23.