ARTS

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

MUSIC

Berlioz's grand opera The Trojans will be given three complete concert performances at the Barbican Hall by the London Symphony Orchestra under Colin Davis. Part I, The Siege of Troy', can be heard on the 4th, 8th and 12th at 3 p.m.; Part II, 'The Trojans at Carthage', on the 5th, 9th and 12th at 7.30 p.m.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozana appears on 4 December in the Festival Hall, also with Berlioz: his Symphonic fantastique and Lelio.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Gustav Leonhardt appears at the QEH on the 21st, with Corelli's Christmas Concerto and Bach's 'Coffee' and `Hercules' Cantatas. Peter Phillips

OPERA

Gloriana, Grand Theatre, Leeds (0532 459351), 18, 21 December.

Britten's neglected 'Coronation' opera about Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex is given a long- overdue revival by Opera North. Sir Charles Mackerras conducts and Josephine Barstow takes the role of the Queen. Phyllida Lloyd directs what should be one of the more significant operatic events of the year, if not the decade.

The Two Widows, London Coliseum (071 836 3161), from 20 December. Adam Fischer conducts David Pountney's new ENO production of Dvorak's spritely comedy. Leading the marital intrigues are Marie McLaughlin and Anne Marie Owens.

Among a number of promising concert performances this month are Tchaikovsky's luscious one-act fable Iolanta, brought to the Albert Hall on 6 December by the Kirov Opera; and Monteverdi's masterpiece of erotic psychology, L'Incoronazione di Poppea, given the John Eliot Gardiner treatment at the QEH on 8 and 11 December.

Rupert Christiansen

THEATRE

Cabaret, Donmar Warehouse (071 867 1150), 9 December. Come to the new production, old chum: Sam Mendes directs Jane Horrocks and Alan Cumming.

Piaf, Piccadilly (071 867 1118), 14 December. Elaine Page as the little sparrow in Peter Hall's revival.

Me and Mamie O'Rourke, Strand (071 930 8800), 15 December. TV's French and Saunders in their first legit West End double, an off- Broadway hit by Mary Agnes Donoghue.

Macbeth, Barbican (071 638 8891),

16 December. Derek Jacobi rejoins RSC to prove Thanes ain't what they used t' be.

A Christmas Carol, Old Vic (071 928 7616), 28 December. Patrick Stewart boldly goes from Star Trek to Charles Dickens in acclaimed Broadway solo. Sheridan Morley

EXHIBITIONS

The Portrait Now, National Portrait Gallery, London. The portrait is alive and well, with 64 examples to prove the case.

Eugene Palmer, Norwich Gallery, Norwich, till 17 December. Jamaican-born artist raised in Birmingham who turns the historic European figurative tradition to personal ends.

Haathi — the Indian Elephant in Miniature Art, Bhownagree Gallery, Commonwealth Institute, W8. Contemporary works within a famed tradition.

Detail from 'Moghul Polo Players; by Ghanshyam Nimbuk

Diana Armfield, Browse & Darby, 19 Cork Street, WI, till 23 December. One of Britain's more accomplished painters of flowers and charming small landscapes. Giles Auty

CRAFTS

The Woodcarver's Craft: an Exhibition of Fine Carving from 1700 to Today, Crafts Council Gallery, Ni, till 19 January. From Grinling Gibbons to David Pye, a survey of skills marginalised but not swept away by modernism.

The Peopling of London: 15,000 Years of Settlement from Overseas, Museum of London, till 15 May 1994. Cosmopolitanism explored challenges the notion that immigration is largely a post-war phenomenon.

Web of Intricacy, Commonwealth Institute, W8, till 9 January. Embroidered quilted hangings in the traditional Kantha style. These beautiful cloths, with a history comparable with our own North Country quilts, are for sale.

Tanya Harrod

GARDENS

Jim Keeling's Whichford Pottery is probably the best-known English source of stylish terracottta pots and other containers, and a pre- Christmas sale there is worth investigating. The sale runs until 12

December (9-5), at Whichford, near Shipston-on-Stour,

Warwickshire. Ursula Buchan

POP MUSIC

David Sylvian/Robert Fripp, Royal Albert Hall, 4, 5 December. Their recent duo album on Virgin, The First Day, was a little heavy-going, but Sylvian and Fripp remain two of the most interesting and imaginative musicians currently mining rock's avant-garde.

Also recommended (in a storming month for gigs): The Pogues, touring, 3-17 December; James, touring 1-13 December; the reconstituted Madness, London Wembley Arena, 22, 23 December; Gary Glitter unrugged, Wembley Arena, 15, 16 December; Squeeze, Forum, 22 December; and, also back in business, The Bible, The Grand, Clapham Junction, 4 December. Marcus Berkmann

DANCE

No shortage of traditional Nutcrackers this Christmas. The Birmingham Royal Ballet in Peter Wright's 1990 production, Birmingham Hippodrome (021 622 7486), 3-18 December; The Royal Ballet in Wright's 1984 version, Covent Garden (071 240 1066), from 17 December and, for four weeks, English National Ballet in Ben Stevenson's version at the Royal Festival Hall (071 928 8800), from 22 December.

For a new slant on an old classic, catch Adventures in Motion Pictures at Sadler's Wells (071 278 8916), 8-18 December. Matthew Bourne's sugar-sweet, tongue-in- cheek version of The Nutcracker, directed by Martin Duncan and designed by Anthony Ward, features an 18-strong cast of (almost) edible characters Marshmallow Girls, the Licorice Allsorts trio, King Sherbet and Queen Candy. All box office profits from the season will go to Crusaid.

Sophie Constant.

CINEMA

Addams Family Values. Christmas means sequels, and this is the follow-up to the film of the TV series of the New Yorker cartoons.

Another Stakeout (PG) is the follow-up to a film you didn't remember the first time round. Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez star as two Seattle detectives going undercover as members of an ordinary American family on vacation.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (PG). Christmas also means spoofs, and this is the latest from Mel Brooks.

LastYear in Marienbad (U). And Christmas means new prints and special presentations. This is a treat: Alan Resnais's classic in a rare 35mm print — all the better to appreciate Sacha Viery's photography, and Coco Chanel's