Bermuda's arts scene has been active and almost non-stop throughout the year. Everything from orchestral concerts to dance festivals and new art galleries and exhibitions have been included in the mix, of which the following is a sampling.

Top billing goes to the led by Major Barrett Dill, steel pay player and the whose inclusion in the Edinburgh Tattoo was a great honour. By all accounts, the Bermudians took their audiences by storm wherever they appeared, and were very popular indeed ? so much so, in fact, that they have already been invited back. In addition to live audiences, they were seen by millions of television viewers around the world wherever the Tattoo was broadcast.

The Band now has a new bandmaster: Warrant Officer Dwight Robinson, while Major Dill carries on as Director of Music until his retirement in 2005.

Also doing Bermuda proud overseas was the , directed by Pipe Major David Frith, which not only took part in the Nova Scotia International Tattoo but also brought home a coveted 'Best Pipe Band' award following participation in the Canada Day parade in Westville, Pictou County, Nova Scotia. The uniqueness of the Band's act caught the attention of the print and electronic media, and its 90-second 'Bermuda Shorts' (calypso tunes on the pipes) segment was a great hit ? as was the outfit Tattoo organisers ultimately required the Bermudians to wear: green shirts, pink or yellow Bermuda shorts, blue socks and straw Panama hats!

Here at home, as always the led the year's cultural march with a full programme of dance, theatre and music that ran from January 13 to February 27. It included such well-known international stars as The Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, the English Chamber Orchestra, Momix, violinist James Ehnes, and The Royal Ballet. The local production, 'Walk Together Children', featuring a cast of actors, singers and dancers, was very well received. As always, many performances were sold out long before the Festival opened.

The held three major concerts this year. In March Metropolitan Opera tenor Joseph Frank was the featured guest artist singing the Mozart aria, 'Per Pieta' as well as in Mendelssohn's second (Hymn of Praise) symphony. Its November concert showcased Bermuda resident, teacher and pianist Deon Flash playing Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Bermuda. In December, Vaughn Williams' 'Hodie' received its Bermuda the premi?re at the annual Christmas concert.

December also saw the Bermuda premi?re of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, this time by the 24-strong at St. John's Church, Pembroke. Directed by John York Skinner, it featured Flora York Skinner, Janet Budden, Valerie Moffatt, Richard Ireland, Peter Nash and John Gwinnell the soloists, and was performed before a full audience.

In October, the s production of 'Fiddler on the Roof' proved an outstanding hit. Directed by visiting director Vanessa Gray, with Ron Campbell in the lead role of Tevye, it played to packed houses.

Also in October, the brought in world-renowned percussionist Anthony Miranda as its guest artist for 2003. He conducted classes at several of the Island's middle and senior schools, and was also featured in the Bermuda Philharmonic Society's 'Cuban Overture'.was different and busier this year. The annual Heritage Exhibition was scrapped in favour of series of lectures and performances which were well received. Among the most successful were the lectures on 'The Sea Around Us'. Held on one of the new ferries while it cruised around the Great Sound, the event attracted a sell-out crowd.

Also playing to sell-out audiences for two nights was the held at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts, which included dancers from the In Motion School of Dance, United Dance Productions, the Russian School of Dance, and Jackson's School of Performing Arts.

The annual Bermuda Day Parade, themed 'Earth, Sea and Air', was again a winner, with the Department of Cultural Affairs declaring it "bigger than ever". In addition to the floats, gombeys and majorettes, the Norfolk State University, Virginia marching band proved a popular attraction.s annual Heritage Month concert was a double bill, the first half featuring the St. John's Youth Choir and the second selected adult musicians and singers performing Mozart's 'Requiem', with Luann Wainwright, Jane Farge, Dr. Gary Burgess and Peter Nash as the soloists.included African-American film director Spike Lee, African-American actor Harry Bellafonte, and Spanish tenor Jos? Carreras. The latter's concert was fraught with difficulties from the word go, including squabbles surrounding the producer, ticket delays, date and venue changes, and much more. In the end, the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel came to the rescue, which resulted in a huge audience originally destined for Dockyard being crammed in the nightclub to listen to the ill-looking singer present a programme of unfamiliar songs accompanied by a pianist. Briefly sharing the programme was the young Bermudian singer, Elca Maranzana. International promoter Karl Hofer claimed the event ran at a huge loss, despite the Department of Tourism's $295,000 assistance.

Bermuda's legendary trumpeter was honouredin Juneby a galaxy of fellow artists during a marathon concert entitled 'Salute to Musical Excellence' and organised by friends and family at the Southampton Princess as a tribute to his career.

On a sadder note, another local legendary trumpeter, succumbed to cancer.in October brought such well-known international artists as Natalie Cole, Stephanie Mills, Kenny G, BeBe Winans, Regina Belle and Marcus Johnson to the Island for the four-night event promoted by Black Entertainment Television at Dockyard. Locals appearing on stage included the Saltus Jazz Band, Maurita Andr?, the Fires of Africa and the Boys Choir of Bermuda. 9000 tickets were sold, of which only 1000 were visitors. Despite the largest turnout to date, jazz aficionados fans felt the annual festival's name was a misnomer, and some ticketholders grumbled that some of the artists did not live up to their billing. had an active year during which it gave almost 60 grants to deserving individuals and organisations to assist them with the cost of education in the arts, special workshops, and beneficial art projects.

Although its funding was about on a par with 2002 and the amounts requested were larger, the Council assisted in a wide variety of endeavours involving dance, fine arts, music, theatre, literature, film, graphic arts and design.

Highlights of the Council's year included: the awarding of a scholarship to Bermuda College art student Sabrina Powell, and helping to sponsor of one of the Island's first public art displays: 'Prayers in the Wind' on the portico of City Hall, which was designed by artist Kendra Ezekiel in conjunction with the Bermuda National Gallery. At its annual awards evening at the Bermuda National Gallery in November, Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Desmond Fountain for Sculpture, and Crowther Wilson for Folk Art for his involvement with the gombeys for over half a century. Founders Awards, given to those who were "the foundation stones upon which Bermuda arts have been built, went to Anthony Ferraz (posthumously); Bandmaster Horace Gibbons; (some posthumously) the Talbot Brothers for their contributions to music; and John Profit for theatre and dance.had another active year with its combination of full productions, play readings, fun nights and more. Highlights included the world premi?re of James Burn's full-length musical based about an American soap opera. Directed by Jo Shane, it was hugely successful, as was 'A Lie of the Mind' directed by Robbie Godfrey. Despite Hurricane Fabian's devastation, cast and crew pulled together to ensure that Arthur Miller's rescheduled 'After the Fall' fulfilled box office expectations. The Christmas pantomime, 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', ended the year's production's. Debbie Pharoah emerged as the overall winner of the 'Famous for 15 Minutes' playwriting festival, taking home the Golden Inkwell trophy and a cheque for $250. Jake Murray, assistant artistic director of the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre, was celebrity guest judge. The introduction of Megawatts, the BMDS on-line ticketing facility, significantly increased attendances and revenue.was a major success, with 72 films being screened over seven days in April. It opened with Michael Douglas' film, 'It Runs in the Family'. The jury was headed by Newsweek magazine's chief film critic. Visiting filmmakers raved about the hospitality and attention lavished on them.

In September chairman Donald Kramer announced a revamping of the National Dance Theatre. Henceforth, it would be the performing arm of the newly-created . Future plans called for a $1.2 million fund-raising campaign; the appointment of a full-time executive director and office assistant; and the establishment of a world-class international summer dance institute in collaboration with the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre. In November developers of the former Club Med. in St. George's said that next summer Bermuda may get a mini arts festival to mark the beginning of work to transform the empty East End property into a new hotel, housing and cultural complex.

Art galleries provided a lively, and in some cases, innovative series of exhibitions throughout the year which included everything from photography to sculpture, still lifes to textiles and jewellery.had a "very, very successful" year with increased art sales, attendances,

the number of artists participating in shows, and the quality of work submitted. In all, the Society hosted 19 shows in the Onions (main) gallery, and a further 20 in the Edinburgh gallery, all of which represented what the Society calls "a wider view of the arts than had been seen in previous years". Highlights included a conceptual show, and the living Past Presidents' show, both of which were very well received, as was the solo exhibition of works by the late Past President Sam Morse Brown in the Edinburgh Gallery.

Gallery director Peter Lapsley's favourite was works by former UBP MP Bobby Barritt "because they represented a time in Bermuda's history not often depicted visually".

Fund-raising was particularly successful in 2003, with the Society raising almost $50,000 towards the cost of replacing failing equipment.

Stepping in to wreck the party, however, was Hurricane Fabian, which tore the roof off the western corner of City Hall, causing the gallery ceiling to collapse and, through a knock-on effect, the demise of its air conditioning system. To the rescue came the XL Foundation, Partner Re, the Bank of Bermuda Foundation and an anonymous donor, as a result of which new air conditioning and lighting systems will be installed in 2004.has had a banner year. Not only has it rounded the $4.5 million mark in pledges? largely from individuals ? towards the cost of its state of the art facility in the Botanical Gardens, for which ground will be broken on January 1, but also it has acquired its third Winslow Homer watercolour of Bermuda. Both local and New York architectural firms were engaged to address all of the museum's concerns associated with its collection, and ground will be broken in January. The agreement of HRH Prince Charles to become the Foundation's principal patron was another highlight.

Meanwhile, many of its regular programmes have continued apace. These have included the Artists Up Front...Street series in the Front Street gallery; the first-ever Art Festival in the (Botanical) Garden (replacing the one on Front Street), and also public carol singing in front of 'Camden', the Premier's official residence, in December.

The only sad note was the closing of the Foundation's Terrace Gallery in Dockyard, which was the source of its artists-in-residence programme, but an alternate venue in St. George's will probably materialise next year.Thanks to a record 25,000 visitors passing through its doors in 2002, the Gallery was able to secure another year of free admission, sponsored by Dennis Sherwin, Neville and Jean Conyers, the Leperq Foundation, and Westbury Ltd.

Major exhibitions this year included 'The Art of Japanese Woodblock Print', an exclusive presentation of part of the private collection owned by Bermudian Asian art expert Noel Chiappa, which ran from February to April. Over 100 works by celebrated US-born photographer and surrealist Lee Miller, were presented in conjunction with the ACE Gallery from May to September, and proved particularly popular with visitors. It was organised and loaned by the Lee Miller Archive and curated by Julie Sylvester of the ACE Gallery. 'Inside and Out: House & Home', curated by guest American curator Ori Z. Soltes, opened in September and continues through January, 2004. Wide-ranging, it features more than 50 works by Bermudian and international artists, who explored the cultural and artistic interpretations of 'house' and 'home'. Participating artists include Andrew Wyeth, Jacob Lawrence, Hiroshi Yoshida, Graham Foster and Sharon Wilson.

Tibetan prayer flags were the inspiration for local artist Kendra Ezekiel's first public art installation, 'Prayers in the Wind', which fluttered above the portico of City Hall from May to September. More than 1000 members of the community wrote prayers on pieces of white cloth which the artist then strung together. Amazingly, the installation even survived Hurricane Fabian!

The Gallery acquired a number of significant works in 2003, including sculptures by Byllee Lang and Desmond Fountain; silk screen prints of Graeme Outerbridge photographs; paintings by Birdsey and Charles Lloyd Tucker; and a mixed media piece by Will Collieson.

Judy Wong became education director in April, and Gita Blakeney-Saltus business development director in September.

PartnerRe sponsored a series of major lectures this year, given by: award-winning American children's book illustrator Jerry Pinkney; Goldman Professorial Lecturer in Theology and Fine Arts Ori Soltes; and eminent American art historian and author Dr. Ann Eden Gibson.

Kendra Ezekiel, Dr. Charles Zuill, Vernon Clarke and Vivian Phillips were among local artists sharing their expertise with young artists at the Gallery's oversubscribed summer art camps.hosted a record ten exhibitions this year, of which 'Plein Air Painters of Bermuda' was a "first". Highlights included the ever-popular, biennial 'Growing' show, and the emergence of so many new artists of all ages "finally plucking up the courage to exhibit their work".

Describing 2003 as "a year of consolidation", the gallery hopes that donations will improve in 2004 to offset the cost of new flooring.held several exhibitions this year featuring the work of: Louise Bourgeois; paintings by Dennis Conner; photography by Lee Miller (shared with the Bermuda National Gallery); Kent Iwemyr, and currently contemporary Vietnamese artists.Opened at 26 Church Street in July jointly owned by partners Jay Bluck and Danjou Anderson. A series of six very successful exhibitions of work by local artists has ensued, and recently ownership changed with the new partnership being Danjou Anderson and Katherine Zuill. In addition to selling paintings and fine antiques, part of the gallery's new direction includes interior design consulting, the sale of lampshades, finials and silk flowers in its adjoining boutique shop, and picture framing.