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A ;357 A monthly selection of forthcoming events recommended by The Spectator's regular critics

MUSIC

BBC Boulez retrospective, Barbican, 15-19 January. Each evening there will be concerts, talks and an exhibition, with a season ticket available. The BBC SO will be conducted by Boulez and the Ensemble InterContemporain by Peter Eotvos. On the 19th at 7.05 P.m. Boulez will be interviewed by John Drummond.

Also at the Barbican, the London Symphony Orchestra will continue its regular series. On the 22nd Lorin Maazel will conduct Mahler's Fourth Symphony and on the 26th Barry Douglas will join the orchestra to play Liszt's Second Piano Concirto and Hungarian Fantasy.

The English Chamber Orchestra is appearing at the Barbican on the 25th under Sir Colin Davies in Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks and Mozart's 'Posthorn' Serenade. Kyung-Wha Chungwill perform Mozart's Fourth Violin Concerto.

Peter Phillips

CRAFTS

The Scottish Tapestry Collection, Fine Art Society, Bond Street, WI , 23 January-24 February.

Tapestries from the Dovecot Studios in collaboration with Elizabeth Blackadder and other Scottish painters.

Walter Crane: Artist, Designer and Socialist, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 20 January-27 March. First comprehensive exhibition of the work of this important artist craftsman. Tanya Harrod

DANCE

Romeo and Juliet, Royal Opera House (240 1066), from 17

January. The return of Kenneth MacMillan's production with many debuts in the leading roles.

Northern Ballet Theatre, Sadlcrs Wells (278 8916), 31 January-11 February. The London premiere of Christopher Gable's new production of Don Quixote.

Deirdre McMahon

CINEMA

Pascalrs Island (15). Romance and tragedy on a Turkish-occupied Greek island, early this century: Ben Kingsley as an Ottoman spy. Helen Mirren as an Austrian with whom he fails in love, Charles Dance as an adventurer posing as an archaeologist.

High Hopes (15). Mike Leigh reports, in his idiosyncratic style, on the state of England. Maddeningly parodic in parts, but touching and very funny.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (15). From Brian Moore's

novel: Maggie Smith is the lonely Dublin spinster and Bob Hoskins her mercenary beau.

The NFI' has a Marlon Brando season; at the Barbican, directors of the New Wave feature in the celebratory Images de France programme. Hilary Mantel

EXHIBITIONS

Turner: The Second Decade 1800- 1810, Clore Gallery, Tate Gallery, London. The end to war in Europe enabled the young master to travel to the Continent for the first time during this decade.

The Falklands Factor: Representation of a Conflict, Manchester City Art Galleries. Drawings, photos and cartoons provide conflicting summary to recent war.

Hunting the Big Fish: Whaling Drawings by Alan Watson, 369 Gallery, Edinburgh. Hardships suffered by men as well as whales during the history of this unpopular industry.

The Art of S.W. Hayter, Glasgow Art Gallery, Kelvingrove. Superb show originated in Oxford of work by the influential master engraver.

Giles Auty

OPERA

Die Fledermaus, Covent Garden (240 1066), 9 January. A new translation by John Mortimer, and a new production by John Cox in the Royal Opera's existing designs. Carol Vaness, Lillian Watson, Thomas Allen and Alan Opie lead the cast.

Lear, Coliseum (836 3161), 24 January. First British performances of Aribert Reimann's ten-year-old opera, in Eike Gramss's production borrowed from Krefeld. The US baritone Monte Jaffe sings the title role created by Fischer-Dieskau, and Paul Daniel conducts.

Das Rheingold, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, from 27 January. First segment of Scottish Opera's new Ring, directed by Richard Jones and designed by Nigel Lowery. John Mauceri conducts, and Willard White sings his first Wotan.

Rodney Milnes Turner's 'Three Scotsmen in Tartan', from his 'Scots Figbres' sketchbook of 1801

THEATRE

Two-Way Mirror, Young Vic (928 6363), opens 23 January. Yet another double bill of Arthur Miller one-act plays, this time Elegy for a Lady and Some Kind of Love Story. Both are billed as duets for a man and a woman and star Helen Mirren and Bob Peck, directed by David Thacker.

Speed the Plow, Lyttelton (928 2252), opens 25 January. The National Theatre stage David Mamet's latest play, a comedy of venality and idealism. Set in a Hollywood film mogul's office, it reads as a slighter piece than his incisively brilliant Glengarry Glenn Ross, but Mamet is that rare bird, a real dramatic artist, and the National has a proven track record with his work. Not to be missed.

The Wars of the Roses, Old Vic (928 7616), opens 27 January. Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington bring the English Shakespeare Company back to London after a triumphant world tour of their marathon populist Shakespeare history cycle.

The Alchemist, Glasgow Citizens (041-429 0022), opens 27 January. Robert Macdonald directs Ben Jonson in the main house. Bound to be worth seeing.

Christopher Edwards

GARDENS

Devotees of the.ornamental witch hazels (Hamantelis species) will wish to make their way to the Hillier Arboretum on Sunday 29 January, when this large collection of trees and shrubs will be open to visitors from 12 noon until 5 p.m. The Arboretum is to be found three miles north-east of Romsey, lJampshire, off the A31.

Ursula Buchan

POP MUSIC

Level 42, Wembley Arena, 9-12 January. Still hugely popular, these fussy popsters veer between out- and-out tunefulness and bland funky Muzak, dominated by Mark King's showy bass-playing.

Eric Clapton, Royal Albert Hall, 20-22 and 24-30 January. A mere ten nights at the Albert Hall for the rejuvenated old picker, whose commercial renaissance has sadly not coincided with any improvement in his recorded output. His live shows, though, are rather more interesting: expect a tight and professional performance. Marcus Berkman

SALE-ROOMS

The smarter end of the trade is abroad: Bahamas, Lyford Key, Jamaica. At Phillips there is a good sale of pianos on the 19th. The best buys, however, may be at The World of Drawings and Watercolours, at the Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly, WI, 18-22