The following post, written by Neil de la Flor, recounts the events of the Knight-funded Sleepless Night 2011, a 12-hour fete of cultural events on Miami Beach. The post orginally appeared on the Knight Arts Blog:

Beneath the almost full moon at the North Shore Bandshell, Miami Lyric Opera’s breathtaking performance of “Marina,” a zarzuela by Spanish composer Emilio Arrieta set in Costa Brava, Spain, impressed the audience. Starring Hilda de Castillo, Jesse James Vargas, Diego Baner and Nelson Martinez, the cast, especially de Castillo and Martinez, powered through the performance despite the quality of the sound system, the whoosh of traffic zooming north on Collins Avenue and a small crowd of possibly drunken masquerade-mask wearing revelers, who had gathered for an impromptu sing along with the cast.

FLEA Ensemble. Photo Neil de la Flor

After the bandshell, we zoomed south to Lincoln Road for the FLEA (the FIU Laptop & Electronic Arts) Ensemble who performed in front of the 420 Building. FLEA performed new work and reinterpretations of classic avant garde music/sound using hi-fi and lo-fi technologies. Across from FLEA, Livio Tragtenberg, or Dr. Strange, was locked in a cage.

Livio Tragtenberg. Photo by Neil de la Flor

His sound installation drew considerable audience participation. Seconds after one would speak into the microphone, Tragtenberg processed their voices and broadcasted the strange results.

Livio Tragtenberg. Photo by Neil de la Flor

After “The Cabinet of Dr. Strange,” we landed at the not-so-strange New World Symphony for a magical, 30-minute mini concert of Ravel’s classic “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” which, for me, was the highlight of Sleepless Night 2011, a Knight Arts grantee. The seemingly effortless movements of the conductor’s hands mesmerized the audience and guided the orchestra with absolute precision.

Civic Plaza.

I left the symphony wanting to hear more, and I did. As I headed north on 17th Street, Gustavo Matamoros, David Dunn and Rene Barge obliged with an electro-acoustic sound installation at the Civic Plaza at Meridian Avenue. I sat beneath a large tree illuminated by a pink light and listened to haunting, ethereal sounds in the dark next to a pink tree while it rained.