A Tits Di/ar t y A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended

by The Spectator's regular critics

MUSIC

One of the high points of the Proms this month should be the visit of the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi. On the 5th they play Beethoven (Grosse Fuge and Seventh Symphony) and Lutoslawski (Concerto for Orchestra); on the 6th Schoenberg's late and neglected Piano Concerto and Bruckner's Seventh. Another special event will be the visit of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Chailly. They will play Schumann and Mahler on the 10th; Beethoven, Schubert/Berio and Prokoviev on the 11th. The Proms end this year on the 15th.

The Cardiff Festival of Music takes place between 15 September and 6 October, under the title Music for Freedom Through the Ages. Telephone 0222 371236 for details. The Scottish National Orchestra will also stage their own festival this month, the Eighth Festival of Contemporary Music, between 15 and 22 September in Glasgow. For details of this multi-talented presentation telephone 041 227 5511.

The Consort of Musicke are celebrating their 21st birthday at the Wigmore Hall on 21st, 22nd and 23rd (two concerts). The concerts will feature the following composers respectively: Monteverdi, Vecchi, Dowland and Ward, and d'India. This should be a feast for lovers of early music.

Peter Phillips

OPERA

Wozzeck, Coliseum (836 3161), from 13 September. Berg's masterful transformation of Buchner's fragmentary drama, in a new production by David Pountney, conducted by Mark Elder. Expect an updating, and some controversy.

Arlane and Bluebeard, Grand Theatre, Leeds (0532 445326), from 17 September. Dukas's• feminist re-working of the familiar legend. A welcome chance to hear some more of the music of the composer of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The conductor will be Opera North's new musical director Paul Daniel.

Les Troyens, Theatre Royal, Glasgow (041 332 9000), from 18 September. A revival of Tim Albery's haunting and evocative vision of Berlioz's epic, with Kathryn Harries as Dido, and John Mauccri conducting.

Carmen, New Theatre, Cardiff (0222 464666), from 17 September. Do we really need another production of this over-exposed piece? The French director Andre Engel and a cast of little-known singers will attempt to convince us that we do. Rupert Christiansen

CRAFTS

Wood for the Trees, Oxford Gallery, 23 High Street, Oxford, 10-27 September. When wood is carved green the results can be both beautiful and curious. Makers from Britain, Eire and the USA.

7/2-7P "jr-777" •- ,1557 77,7, "7"""").7 h-7.77"*".• 7 '7- 7 •*-.7-

77-

,pqr-713,7-2- 7.14s -tr.,'

Dancers with gamelan orchestra, from a Javanese manuscript, 1804

Paper and Gold: Illuminated Manuscripts from the Indonesian Archipelago, British Library, till 28 October. Malay and Javanese manuscripts. Depictions of music and dance for gamelan lovers as well as historical and literary

treatises. Tanya Harrod

DANCE

Les Ballets Africains, Sadlers Wells Theatre (071 278 8916), 18-29 September. The first visit to London by this company of 35 dancers and musicians from Guinea. This is part of an African dance season at Sadlers Wells.

Deirdre McMahon

THEATRE

Once in a While the Odd Thing Happens, Cottesloe (071 928 2252), 18 September. New play by Paul Godfrey about the life of Benjamin Britten examines certain fictionalised dramatic events in Britten's life leading to the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes Private Lives, Aldwych (071 836 6404), 18 September. Interesting- sounding revival of Noel Coward's best-known play starring Joan Collins and Keith Baxter.

Redevelopment, Orange Tree, Richmond (081 940 3633), 18 September. Premiere of Vaclav Havel's most recent play about architects in an East European state facing a dilemma: they are instructed to redevelop a town

against the wishes of its inhabitants. Sam Walters directs.

Christopher Edwards

CINEMA

If you want to know what shocks the Japanese try the documentary The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (ICA, from 14 September). It alleges (amongst other things) that after the Japanese surrender in the second world war, officers stranded in the jungle dined on their men.

White Hunter Black Heart (PG). Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this account of how John Huston filmed The African Queen.

The Sixth International Film and TV Festival takes place in Birmingham, 21 September-6 October. Festival office: 021 766 6707. Hilary Mantel

GARDENS

After the August flag, garden- visiting receives a new lease of life this month, with some good gardens planted for 'all-year-round' interest opening for the National Gardens Scheme. Those who find themselves in Devon might like to sec the three-acre garden at Silver Copse, near Marsh Green, open 22 and 23 September, 10-5.

Ursula Buchan

EXHIBITIONS

Georges Braque, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, from 8 September. The most important show in recent times of work by true modern master.

Eduardo Chillida, Hayward Gallery, from 6 September. Spain's most celebrated sculptor weighs in with massive iron works expressing elemental forces.

Ecstatic Antibodies, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. Artists tell you what's wrong with your attitude to Aids.

The Art of the Pastel: Leszek Muszynsld, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, from 15 September. Virtuoso use of difficult medium by Polish-born artist. Giles Auty

POP MUSIC

Gypsy Kings, touring, 17-19 September. Three provincial dates (respectively Manchester, Edinburgh and Nottingham) for the finger-clicking Spanish funsters. Superb live and definitely worth catching.

Steve Earle, touring, 5-22 September. As you have no doubt realised, it's not exactly the most gripping September the rock circuit has ever seen, but anyone keen on ersatz Springsteen-style blue collar rock (all tattoos and greasy biker hair) will lap up this brief tour by Steve Earle. Personally, I'm off on holiday. Marcus Berkmann