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Robin Lynam

MUSIC Sting. Monday and Tuesday, 8pm, Hong Kong Coliseum. $180, $280, $380, $680, Arena.

Sting and his roadshow pass briefly through town on the Mercury Falling tour. Fans will be delighted, but while the former Police frontman's songwriting skill is undeniable and he turns out with first-class musicians, his live shows seldom measure up to the standards of his recordings.

  A certain amount of showmanship is essential to make a performance work in the cavernous and acoustically nightmarish Coliseum, and nothing in Sting's track record suggests that he has what it takes for this.

  For the converted, however, this is a fine opportunity to hear their hero recycle the old hits in between plugs for the new album.

  A shame he couldn't have done a few more nights in a less problematic venue.

Joe Houston. From Tuesday, 9.30pm, The Jazz Club. $250, members $125.

Most blues and R & B aficionados will have heard Joe Houston, although they may not have heard of him.

  A highly experienced sideman, tenor and alto saxophonist, Houston has played on recordings by Etta James, Lloyd Price, Amos Milburn, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Buddy Holly and, most notably, Joe Turner with whom he cut the classics Honey Hush and All Night Long.

  As a frontman, Houston was at his peak in the 1950s with a series of now mostly forgotten instrumental hits on the R & B charts, but a vogue for his particular brand of honking blues has come round and the horn man is on the comeback trail. Nowadays he sings as much as he plays, and an evening of hard-driving, jazz-inflected rhythm and blues may be confidently anticipated. Book early.

Lunchtime Concert. Monday, 1.15pm, Academy for Performing Arts, 1st floor foyer. Free.

The first in a season of Monday lunchtime performances which should give people working in Wan Chai something different to do with the midday break.

  APA students will perform both Western and Chinese music in various genres, and a snack lunch service is also available.

DANCE Swan Lake. Today, 2.30pm, Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. $90, $140, $220, $300.

Probably the best-known and loved of all balletic dramas, Swan Lake is being presented by the Hong Kong Ballet in a production by Stephen Jefferies closely modelled on the original choreography by Julius Reisinger from 1877, as modified by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa in 1895.

  A tragic love story set to Tchaikovsky's sublime music and reflecting the bizarre preoccupation with swans of classical Russian choreographers. Live accompaniment comes from the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the costumes are designed by Peter Farmer.

CLASSICAL MUSIC Borodin String Quartet. Saturday, 8pm, Sha Tin Town Hall. $70, $110, $150, $190, Urbtix.

More Tchaikovsky in the form of his Children's Album, along with three pieces by Stravinsky and, naturally enough, String Quartet No 2 by Borodin. The Borodin Quartet, originally called the Moscow Philharmonic Quartet, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

  The ensemble is widely regarded as one of the world's finest interpreters of Russian string music, particularly of the Shostakovich quartets performed with significant input from the composer, although none of their early mentor's music features in this programme.

  American Bach Soloists. Today, 8pm, City Hall Concert Hall. $80, $130, $180, Urbtix.

This American group of early music specialists presents an all-Bach programme, including the Overture in B Minor from Orchestral Suite No 2, featuring Sandra Miller on flute, the Coffee Cantata, again featuring Sharp with soprano Judith Nelson and tenor/musical director Jeffrey Thomas, and the Concerto in C Minor for Violin, Oboe, Strings and Basso Continuo featuring Elizabeth Blumenstock on violin and John Abberger on oboe.

  A fine opportunity to see some of the best exponents of this music in the United States appearing together.

  EXHIBITIONS Asian Sensuality In Art. Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm, Artinasia, 1 Bonham Road.

Work by local artists in various media including painting, photography and sculpture, using the theme of unrestricted freedom of expression and taking in subjects ranging from politics and gender identity to AIDS.

  The exhibition proceeds from the assumption that 'censorship or self-censorship has no place in art and in the right of freedom of expression'.

  Tell that to Hong Kong's self-appointed arbiters of public decency.

CINEMA Diary For My Children. Today, 2.30pm, Arts Centre Lim Por Yen Film Theatre. $50, Urbtix.

One of a season of Hungarian films, Diary For My Children was made in 1982 and won a Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1984. In this film, set in 1947, a family returns from exile in Russia to Budapest, only for young Juli to become disillusioned with the oppressive bureaucratic reality of Hungary, contrasted with her own more lyrical memories, and with the politics of the wealthy aunt who takes her in.

  Its sequel, Diary For My Loves, is screened at 4.30pm. Marta Meszaros directed and wrote the screenplays for both movies.



Going Out