While most people's thoughts are busy with summer pursuits, plans are already well in hand for the first big winter event of 1998 -- the 23rd Bermuda Festival.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet will provide a regal opening on January 12 when the famous Canadian company, which has performed all over the world, presents a selection that will include such well-loved classics as the Pas de Deux from "Giselle'' and contemporary works by prominent Canadian choreographers.

The accent on dance continues in February when the popular Philadanco (The Philadelphia Dance Company, founded in 1970) makes a return visit, with a repertoire of modern dance. Two separate programmes are promised for the four-night run.

On the local front, Marjorie Pettit will direct, for the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, an evening of choral and orchestral music. With Gary Burgess, Peter Nash, Jane Farge and Mary Kay Barrington expected to take part, the programme will include Beethoven's Mass in C major and Bach's Cantata No. 172. On the operatic front, there will be the Triumphal March from "Aida'' and the much loved duets from "Samson and Delilah'' ("Softly awakes my heart'') and "The Pearl Fishers (Au fond du temple saint)''.

The National Black Touring Circuit, formed in 1974, will also make a return visit with a performance of "Checkmates''. This modern comedy, which had a successful run on Broadway, explores the effect of the generation gap on two couples. Festival audiences will recall the company's popular production of "Williams and Walker'' back in 1992.

The American Boychoir, trained at their own school, has now performed in Westminster Abbey, The White House and at the Vatican. Their popular repertoire includes classical and sacred works followed by lighter music in the second part of the programme.

The Bermuda Festival has decided to mount two children's shows this year. More than 30 instruments will be sounded by the duo Michael Copley and Ian Moore when they entertain younger audiences with "The Classic Buskers'', a programme which includes acrobatic antics and light-hearted commentary to accompany the music.

The other children's offering will be "Avner the Eccentric'', a clown who mimes, performs magic, and combines magic, acrobatic balancing and juggling.

The distinguished Belgian orchestra, I Femminghi, makes its debut in Bermuda with three different programmes. Named by Renaissance Italians as a tribute to the famous Flemish musicians of that time, the orchestra performs to sold-out houses in more than 30 countries. The programme will include music by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovitch, Britten, Brosse, and Bartok.

Wayne Marshall is a great favourite with Festival audiences and this year, he will return as an accompanist to the violinist Tasmin Little. Apparently as extrovert as Marshall, this dynamic young artist has already achieved star billing in Britain, with one of their leading critics predicting in Gramaphone magazine that Tasmin Little is "the musician I nominate for world-wide stardom''. Their programme, which has not yet been finalised, is expected to include pieces by Bach, Grieg, Patterson and Ravel.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company will perform The Complete History of America (Abridged) in which American history is mutilated in much the same way as was meted out to Britain's beloved bard in their first hit appearances on Broadway and in London. Having appeared many times now at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with a year-long run in the West End, the company has also been responsible for some Presidential laughter at The White House and at the Lincoln Centre.

The Empire Brass, back after visits in 1987 and 1991, now has Bermudian Kenneth Amis as a member. Details of their programme are not yet available but is expected to combine pops with classical music.

Sandra Reaves, the jazz singer, will also be making a welcome return visit, singing a programme that includes Gospel and Blues.

Bermuda will be the recipient of a brand new programme from the world-famous flute player William Bennett, in his "Opera Flutastic''. A frequent visitor to the Festival with the English Chamber Orchestra, he has now compiled, with four fellow musicians, a spoof on famous opera themes -- moments from operas "as they should have been written''.

There is little doubt that Verdi got it just right when he composed "Rigoletto''. Now, Bermuda audiences will have a chance to judge for themselves, when the highly popular Midsummer Opera Company returns from England to perform this classic work. As with their splendid versions of Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte'' and "The Marriage of Figaro'', "Rigoletto'' will be sung in English with a small orchestra.

The Bermuda Festival runs from January 12 through February 12 1998. Advanced booking brochures should be available in September. Anyone wishing to be placed on the advanced mailing list should contact the Bermuda Festival Office.

BALLET FOR BERMUDA -- A principal dancer of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Kaori Nakamura is seen in a scene from "Don Quixote''. The world-famous company opens the 1998 Bermuda Festival.