4RTS

A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by the SPecto.tor's regular critics.

OPERA

hychi, Theatre de l'Archeveche, Aix-en-Provence, from 21 July. Jean-Claude Malgoire conducts this rare Lully opera. Don Chischiotte in Sierra Morena, Buxton Festival, from 30 July (0298 71010). First UK performance of little-known 1719 opera by Francesco Bartolomeo Conti. ,.„14hengrin, Bayreuth, from 25 July. yrerner Herzog directs a new production to open this year's festival. Peter Schneider conducts; Paul Frey sings the title role.

Rodney Blumer

DANCE

London Festival Ballet, London Coliseum 7-18 July (813 3161). The highlight of this enticing season is the revival of Ashton's Apparitions with Makarova in the Fonteyn role (13 and 14 July). The Bolshoi Ballet Academy, London Coliseum, 21 July- 1 August (836 3161). Students and gaduates perform classical ..,_shewPieces and traditional folk dances. Will the Russians upstage the Royal Ballet students aPPearing in their annual bash?

Jul(Royal Opera House, 10 and 16 y.)

Julie [Cavanagh

THEATRE

My aster in This House, Hampstead (722 9301). Wendy Kessehnan play based on 1933 French murder case. Subtle Performances lead up to unexpected climax. C A esl From From the Bridge, National ott (928 2252). Superb Production of Arthur Miller's tragic drama about Italian immigrants on the waterfront.

Kiss Me Kate, Old Vic (928 7616). RSC's excellent revival of Cole Porter classic starring Paul Jones. Enormous fun.

Blues in the Night , Doiunar nibarehouse (240 8250). Superb evening: 26 songs from s fro a talented company of four singers and band. Christopher Edwards

CINEMA

The Morning After (15). Sidney el thriller, with Jane Fonda as an alcoholic actress who wakes up beside an unaccountable corpse. Chronicle or a Death Foretold (15). Francesco Rosi's lush and stately version of the short revenge-killing novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Radio nays (PG). Woody Allen's

warmly nostalgic account of childhood in New York just before World War II.

At the National Film Theatre on 23 July, Leslie Halliwell of Halliwell's Film Guide gives a Guardian Lecture, and throughout the month the NFT will show some of his favourite films; from 10 July, there is a short season of Shakespeare films from all over the world.

Hilary Mantel

EXHIBITIONS

Jacob Epstein: Sculptures & Drawings, Whitechapel, 3 July-13 September. A chance to reassess one of the century's more controversial figures. Loved by some but hated, in his time, by opponents of his 'barbaric' modernism. The work looks dignified by today's sculptural standards.

Jacob Epstein. 'Torso in Metal from the Rock Drill', 1913

Pierre Bonnard: Drawings, JPL Fine Arts, 26 Davies St, Wl, till 31 July. Delightful small drawings by one of the kindest sensibilities ever to lift a pencil. An oasis for the soul.

Mordecai Ardon, Marlborough Fine Art, 6 Albemarle St, W1, 3-31 July. A large-scale exhibition by 80-year-old Polish artist who studied at the Bauhaus but who has lived in Israel for the past 50 years.

Gilbert & George, Hayward, 8 July-27 September. Large photo- pieces on social themes by the dauntless duo. Significance is in the eye of the beholder. Giles Auty

MUSIC

The Proms start on 17 July with a performance of Sir Michael lippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time. The dance theme of this year's series is apparent, for instance, on 20 July with Vaughan Williams's Masque, Job.

Other festivals in July include King's Lynn, 24 July-1 August; Chester, 17-25 July; Cambridge, 18 July-2 August, and Ryedale, 24 July-9 August. Those interested in young pianists should go to the Wigmore Hall on 21 July to hear Iwan Llewelyn- Jones and on 9 July for Nicholas Unwin. Both have recently concluded their studies at the Royal College of Music.

Peter Phillips

A Celebration of Roses , the tenth annual British Rose Festival at the Gardens of the Rose, Chiswell Green, St Albans, 11 and 12 July, 10.00-6.00. Four new roses will be launched.

Mottisfont Abbey, Rumsey, Hampshire has the National Trust's finest collection of old-fashioned roses. These are best seen, and smelled, in the evening, so the walled rose garden alone will be open from 7 until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays in July. Abbey grounds open Sunday- Thursday, 2.00-6.00, April- September.

Westwell Manor, Burford, Oxfordshire. Open Sunday, 19 July, 2.00-6.30. Set round the perfect Cotswold manor house, the six-acre garden offers topiary, knot and water gardens, a potager, shrub roses, and herbaceous borders. Promises to be a rare treat. Ursula Buchan

POP MUSIC

Penguin Café Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall, 9 July. Simon Jeffe's loose-knit ensemble now has middlebrow respectability, but don't let that put you off.

Genesis & Paul Young, Wembley Stadium, 1-4 July. It's still hard to think of Phil Collins as a sex symbol and Genesis selling-out world tours, but the music's rather more digestible these days. Pray they don't play 'Supper's Ready'.

Van Morrison, touring. Short, tubby and bad-tempered, Morrison is still one of pop music's most skilled and emotive singers, and has the material to match. Let's hope he's on form.

Marcus Berkmann

SALE ROOMS

The Studio of Rene Magritte, Sothebys, 2 July (493 8080). Includes his possessions and correspondence as well as several paintings.

Antiquities, Christies, 10 July (839 9060). Some marvellous Romano- Egyptian gold snake bracelets, way above the heads of the Royal Family or Miss Elizabeth Taylor.

For bargains, try English Naive and Provincial Art, Sothebys, 14 July (493 8080), where things start around £500; or English Drawings and Watercolours, Christies, 21 July (839 9060) — delicate forms, vast skies and nostalgia in about