“Metal and Fire: The Children of Vulcan” art show opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, with gallery hours from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at The Nave Gallery, 155 Powderhouse Blvd., near Teele Square, Somerville. Free.

There’s a distinctly playful and steampunk vibe to this show, where two dozen artists show work they’ve literally forged and welded into being. Curated by William Turville and Ecco Pierce, this show intends to carry forward a legacy of metalwork that includes everything from “body ornaments and tools to weaponry and currency.” Artists include Lee W. Badger, J.B. Bond, Colin M. Buckley, Karen Burke, Michael Dewberry, Sharon Freed, Colin Galbraith, Abi A. Gonzales, K. Gretchen Greene, Liz Helfer, Doug Johnson, David A. Lang, Eric D. Legacy, Barbara Marder, Laurie Marshall, Ted Ollier, Kamil Peters, Coleman Rogers, Daniel Sinclair, Skunk (whose “Bobo – Neutrino Class Astrobot #250” is seen above and here), Theresa St. Romain and Steve Syverson. Information is here.

Ping-pong tournament from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday on the second floor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s duPont Athletic Center, 100 Massachusetts Ave. Free.

This table tennis tournament is open to all levels of players, with drinks and snacks provided – but since rackets and balls are limited, players are asked to bring their own if possible. Sign up here for this event sponsored by the Graduate Student Council funding board and Center for Art, Science & Technology. Information is here.

Cambridge Youth Dance Program’s “Divertissement” at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Boston University Dance Theater, 915 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. Tickets are $20 to $25.

Head across the river to Boston to check out the work of these talented dancers from the Cambridge area based at the Deborah Mason School of Dance in Somerville). The spring concert promises a series of entertaining, inspiring, spirited and diversified dances.

American Classics and Tin Pan Alley’s “Tin Pan Opera” at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Pickman Concert Hall of the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Tickets are $25 general admission, or $20 for students and seniors.

Songwriters such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert and Robert Wright and George Forest drew on the popularity of opera and made it all-American, and this night features some of the best of that tradition, including two Berlin parodies and the “Yes, We Have No Bananas Opera Parody” with music from Verdi, Wagner, Handel, Offenbach and Donizetti. Other songs include “My Cousin Caruso” (with quotes from “I Pagliacci”), “Stranger in Paradise” (from Borodin’s “Prince Igor”) and songs based on Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly,” as well as novelties including the “Baseball Versus Opera” (by L.C. Davis and Charles Kunkel, taken from a set of postcards), “Sadie Salome (Go Home),” reflecting the craze for all things “Salome” and Felix Arndt’s piano solo “Desecration Rag No. 2: An Operatic Nightmare.” Along for the ride are singers Amelia Broome, Jean Danton, Lauren Frick, Brian Minnick, Ethan Sagin and Benjamin Sears, while JoAnne Dickinson leads the tour as emcee and Bradford Conner and Margaret Ulmer are the maestri di musica at the piano. There will be a preconcert talk a half-hour before the performance by American Classics directors Sears and Conner. Information is here.

Cambridge Symphony Chamber Players concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave. Free.

The Cambridge Symphony Chamber Players present Johannes Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B minor; Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (“Death and the Maiden”); and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C minor. Players include Allison Eck on clarinet;  Regina Cheung, Josh Garstka, Stan Mah, Cat Powell, Molly Shira and Nina Slywotzky on violin; Sarah Izen and Tze-Ping Low on viola; and Joanna Jerison, Joydita Sarkar and David Tresner-Kirsch on cello. Information is here.