ugust rt-rts "Diary

A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by The Spectator's regular critics.

MUSIC

The Proms will host five foreign symphony orchestras during August: the Gothenburg SO conducted by Neemi Jarvi playing Sibelius's Second Symphony (18th) and Nielsen's Fifth (19th); the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons playing Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony (22nd) and Elgar's Cello Concerto with Stravinsky's Petrushka (23rd); the French Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France under Marek Janowski playing Schumann's Rhenish Symphony (25th) and Tchaikovsky's First Symphony (26th); the European Community Youth Orchestra under Bernard Haitink playing Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (27th); and the Chicago SO under Sir Georg Solti performing Berlioz's Damnation of Faust (28th).

Other festivals in August include the Maltings Proms, which run all month. Highlights include the Tallis Scholars (Framlingham, 14th); the Gothenburg SO under Jarvi (Snape, 18th): Melvyn Tan playing Mozart on a fortepiano (Blythburgh, 20th); the London Classical Players under Norrington playing Schubert's Ninth on original instruments (Snape, 24th): and the London Mozart Players conducted by Jane Glover (Snape, 28th). Peter Phillips

POP MUSIC

Bros & Debbie Gibson, Wembley Stadium, 19 August, £15. A must for all Spectator readers, although sadly I expect to be called away for an urgent meeting on that day. One dreads to imagine the shriek of pre-pubescent exaltation when the alien Goss twins leap up on to the stage; certainly all dogs and anyoric over 12 should steer clear of north- west London for the concert's duration.

Bon Jovi, Milton Keynes Bowl, 19 August, £.16.50, Yes, you'll need to avoid Buckinghamshire on that day too, as untold thousands of daringly smelly Bon Jovi fans will be thronging to the Bowl for two hours' axe-thrashing and general hair-growing. Wouldn't it be nice if all cities were like Milton Keynes? Marcus Berkmann

OPERA

Elektra, at the Salzburg Festival, 14-26 August. Claudio Abbado conducts Strauss's opera, with Eva Marton and Brigitte Fassbaender. in a production by Harry Kupfer.

The Thieving Magpie, at the Pesaro Festival, 16-24 August. Katia Ricciarelli, William Matteuzzi and Samuel Ramey take the leading roles in Rossini's opera, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti and directed by Michael Hampe.

Orfeo ed Euridice, Covent Garden (240 1066), 6 and 11 August. Harry Kupfer's 'controversial' production of Gluck's opera is part of the Berlin Komischc Oper's visit to Covent Garden, with the excellent counter-tenor Jochen Kowalski as Orpheus. Rodney Milnes

EXHIBITIONS

Raymond Mason: Sculpture & Drawings, Manchester City Art Gallery. Paris-based Englishman draws subject matter direct from French street life. Life-size figures in coloured epoxy resin shock refined sculptural sensibilities.

Frederick Gore RA, Royal Academy. A hundred large-scale works distinguished by vigour and vivid hues. Take dark glasses.

From Frederick Gore's 'Peasant Dance', 1946 100 Years of Russian Art 1889- 1989, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. Ex-Barbican blockbuster of work from wealthy private collectors in USSR, land of private opportunity.

William McTaggart 1835-1910, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, from II August. Scotland's landscape painting hero who braved national climate to work on the spot.

A Century of Revolution: Printmaking in France 1800-1900, Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow. Delacroix, Daumier, Degas etal. A masterly line-up of men who could draw. Giles Auty

CRAFTS

Out of the Wood: the Tree as Image and Symbol, Crafts Council Gallery, till 8 October. The Green movement comes to the crafts.

Summer Exhibition, Galerie Besson, 15 Royal Arcade, Wl, till 31 August, A careful exhibition of contemporary pottery.

Tanya Harrod

CINEMA

August is never the brightest month for cinema, but there's: Slaves of New York (15). Directed by James Ivory, with a screenplay by Tama Janowitz from her own highly successful short stories.

And re-examining passion in Manhattan, Woody Allen with yet Another Woman (PG). Mia Farrow and Gena Rowlands are among the tortured egos.

Dealers (15) is an energetic Euston Films venture into high finance — not quite a British Wall Street — and in How To Get Ahead in Advertising (15) Bruce Robinson of Wit/snail & I unleashes rather cumbersome comic fury on to the trade that feeds consumer dreams.

Hilary Mantel

DANCE

The Bolshoi Ballet, London Coliseum (836 3161), until 12 August, Last performances of Spartacus, Swan Lake and a programme of divertissements.

Paul Taylor Dance Company, Sadlers Wells Theatre (278 8916), until 5 August. One of America's foremost modern dance companies returns to London after a 16-year absence, Adventures in Motion Pictures, The Place (387 0031), 17-19 August. The premiere of The Infernal Galop by Matthew Bourne, a contribution to the French bicentennial. Deirdre McMahon

THEATRE

International theatre at the Edinburgh Festival includes Moscow's Taganka Theatre in Pushkin's Boris Godunov, directed by Yuri Lyubimov, at the Leith Theatre, 22-26 August; and the great flamenco dancer Christina Hoyos and her company at Usher Hall, 17-19 August. Booking tel: 031-225 5756.

Veterans' Day, Theatre Royal Haymarket (930 9832), from 22 August. Interesting-sounding new play by Donald Fried about American veterans waiting to receive medals from the President stars Jack Lemmon and Michael Gambon.

A Flea in Her Ear, Old Vic (928 7616), from 8 August. Revival of John Mortimer's version of classic Feydeau farce. Richard Jones directs what promises to be a lively production. Christopher Edwards

GARDENS

'Spindrift', Jordans, three miles north-east of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, boasts 40 varieties of vegetable grown in the model fruit and vegetable garden, not to mention herbaceous border, collection of variegated shrubs and plants, hosts terrace and a landscaped gravel pit. Open 28