ARTS DIARY lir mir A monthly selection of forthcoming events

recommended by The Spectator's regular critics

OPERA

King Priam, Grand Theatre, Leeds (0532 459351), from 3 May. Tippett's most austere and compelling opera is presented by Opera North in a new production directed by Tom Cairns and conducted by Paul Daniel.

Tosca, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 11 May. Hildegard Behrens takes the title role in Zeffirelli's unsurpassed production, indelibly associated with Callas's swansong in 1964-5. Michael Plasson is the conductor.

Regina, Theatre Royal, Glasgow (041 332 9000), from 16 May. Fascinating exhumation of an opera by Bemstein's teacher Marc Blitzstein, based on Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes. A pet project of conductor John Mauceri. Robert Carsen directs, Kathryn Harries takes the title role.

Cosi fan tutte, Glyndebourne (02733 541111), from 24 May. Trevor Nunn is rumoured to be updating Mozart's masterpiece to the 1930s and changing the location to a cruise liner. Simon Rattle conducts, Maria Bjornson designs and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment plays what promises to be a highlight of the Mozart bicentenary. Rupert Christiansen

DANCE

Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House (071 240 1066), 2-29 May. World premiere of David Bintley's three- act ballet Cyrano.

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sadlers Wells (071 278 8916), 7-18 May. The season includes welcome revivals of Ashton's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Façade and Les Rendezvous. There is also the world premiere of a new work by William

Tuckett. Deirdre McMahon

MUSIC

Music festivals this month include: Bath (24 May-9 June); Beverley Early Music (9-12 May); Brighton (3-26 May); Bury St Edmunds (9-25 May); Glasgow's Mayfest (3-25 May); Malvern (19 May- 1 June); Newbury Spring Festival (8-18 May); Nottingham (24 May- 8 June); and the Sheffield Chamber Music Festival (11-25 May).

The Bath Festival celebrates the culture of Eastern Europe with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Hungary, 26 May); Musics Antigua Prague (Czechoslovakia, 31 May and 2 June); the Suk Chamber Orchestra directed by Josef Suk (Czechoslovakia, 1 June); Keller Quartet (Hungary, 30 May); Martinu Quartet (Czechoslovakia,

3 June); Borodin Quartet (USSR, 4 June); Talich Quartet (Czecho- slovakia, 7 and 8 June).

The Newbury Spring Festival will take place in several churches around the town, including the Church of Douai Abbey. The main events are to, be held in St Nicholas's Church: the City of London Sinfonia (8th); the Halle Orchestra (15th); and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (18th). The theme is 'mostly Mozart'. Peter Phillips

CRAFTS

Pioneers of Modern Furniture, Fischer Fine Art, SW1, till 31 May. Classics by Loos, Wagner, Rietveld, Le Corbusier and Britain's own Gerald Summers — a handsome if not comprehensive array Elspeth Owen, Galerie Beason, WI, 1-31 May. Fragile, ancient-looking pots of serene beauty.

'Through thick and thin', 1991, wood- fired stoneware, by Elspeth Owen

Jim Malone, Amalgam, Barnes, 3-27 May. True to the Sung Standard — one of the best Orientalist potters working in Britain today. Tanya Harrod

EXHIBITIONS

Bath Contemporary Art Fair '91, Assembly Rooms, Bath, 23-27 May only. 26 galleries put on a fine display of one- and two-person shows for annual event.

Corot, Manchester City Art Gallery, from 19 May. Major exhibition of works by 19th-century master of silvery tones from a golden era.

Pick of the Collection, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, from 4 May. Works collected by local university over 25 years, everything from Op to Pop and Warhol to Spencer.

The Glory of the Year, Kew Gardens Gallery. Flower paintings by Elizabeth Jane Lloyd for those whose buzz is the botanical.

Giles Auty

GARDENS

One of the prettiest hamstone villages in Somerset, Hinton St. George, is holding a garden weekend on 4 and 5 May, when 14 gardens in the village will be open from 2 until 5.30 p.m. They range from two-acre formal gardens to tiny cottage plots. A home-made tea is included in the admission fee of £1.75, with all money raised going to local charities. The village is two miles north-west of Crewkeme. Ursula Buchan

CINEMA

The Silence of the Lambs is based on a bestseller by Thomas Harris and has been hugely successful in the States. It is directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, and Scott Glenn.

Guilty by Suspicion is set in Hollywood during the McCarthy period. Robert De Niro plays an aspiring director who heroically refuses to finger a few colleagues for the Sub-committee on Un- American Activities.

Sibling Rivalry stars Kirstie Allen and Carrie Fisher, who wrote Postcards from the Edge. It is a fast- moving comedy directed by Carl Reiner about a woman who has a one-night stand with her unknown

brother-in-law. Gabriele Annan

POP MUSIC

Paul Simon, touring, 8 May- 3 June). Although that looks like a long tour, the small bewigged one is in fact just playing a handful of dates at big venues like Wembley Arena and the Birmingham NEC and taking long gaps off in between for rest, relaxation and radical toupee adjustment.

Christy Moore, touring, 4-31 May. Possibly Ireland's best folk singer, much admired by Elvis Costello, The Pogues and U2, and touring on the back of his latest album Smoke And Strong Whiskey (Newberry).

Marcus Berlunann

THEATRE

The Caretaker. Harold Pinter directs his own play. Donald Pleasance returns to the role of Davies the tramp which he created in the original production in 1960. A regional tour includes Theatre Royal Newcastle (7-11 May), Alexandra Theatre Birmingham (14-18 May), the Alhambra Bradford (21-25 May) and other locations before coming to the West End early in the summer.

All for Love, Almeida (071 359 4404). A very interesting-sounding revival of Dryden's great Restoration tragedy which charts the final days of the lives of Antony and Cleopatra. Diana Rigg plays Cleopatra, James Laurenson plays Antony. Jonathan Kent directs.

Henry VIII, Chichester Festival Theatre (0243 781312), 22 May. A rare opportunity to see Shakespeare and Fletcher's masque play of political intrigue. Keith Michell takes the title role, Dorothy Tutin plays Catherine of Aragon. Ian Judge directs. Christopher Edwards