The explosion of interest in the arts has continued unabated throughout the whole of 1995. This, in spite of (or perhaps because of) a particularly difficult year which found Bermuda in disarray as it tried to fend off a spew of potential hurricanes, and became caught, for a while, in the eye of a far worse political storm.

As Culture Officer Miss Ruth Thomas remarked in an interview with Living , "Bermuda, now, more than ever, needs the arts. It is not only an outlet for creativity, but also sensitises people to the total environment and to the spiritual side of life. I think that is what is missing in so many lives today.'' She cites this year's annual Premier's Concert as a shining example of an island "bursting with talented young people. Everyone was truly astounded by the attainment reached by the participants. It's interesting to note,'' she adds, "that all of these youngsters who range in age from seven to 20, have stayed out of trouble. I wish we could reach more children through the arts.

It could well be the answer to many of the problems facing this Country today.'' In spite of the fact that the arts has produced almost the only good and positive news of the year, Miss Thomas says that, financially, it has been a difficult year for the arts. "When the economic atmosphere is strained, the first thing that suffers is still the arts,'' she says.

When Dr. David Saul became Premier, the Cabinet shuffle brought a new Minister of Culture, Dr. Yvette Swan, who fought off criticism that she was not a `born' Bermudian, with the retort that, married to a local and the mother of three children, she has devoted the past 25 years to her `Bermudianisation'.

With every area of the arts -- visual and performing -- vying for attention, it is hard to know where to begin in our annual review of the main events in the art world. So, we may as well begin at the beginning of the year, when 1995 opened with a truly gala event, with world-famous violinist and conductor, Lord (Yehudi) Menuhin, making a triumphant return to the Festival he helped to found, as it celebrated its 20th anniversary.

On January 17, the man who did so much to change the face of music in Bermuda, took the baton to conduct Menuhin Foundation and other local musicians in a scintillating and emotional Gala Concert of music by Vivaldi, Elgar and Mozart. He also brought along 16-year old Wei-Wei-Lee, a student at his school in England, as soloist in the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5.

Musically, the Chinese took top honours as virtuoso violinists this year. Also making a very welcome return here from the Juilliard School in New York, was the remarkable, and refreshingly modest young violinist, Xiao-dong Wang, to play under Marjorie Pettit's baton in a stunning performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. This was at the annual Heritage Concert presented by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society at St. John's Church in May. The subsequent performance of Mendelssohn's `Hymn of Praise', for a hand-picked choir and orchestra, confirmed the supremacy of this group, which surely compares favourably with standards achieved by many larger cities overseas.

Back to music at the Bermuda Festival, perhaps the biggest surprise success of this year's season was the Midsummer Opera from England, in a small, yet musically ravishing production of Mozart's `The Marriage of Figaro'. Back again, and very welcome too, was The English Chamber Orchestra in a superb triple programme under conductor James Judd. Another `first' for the Festival was the visit of the famed King's College Choir from Cambridge.

Another artist who captured Bermuda's hearts was Marisa Robles, arguably the world's greatest harpist, who not only dazzled City Hall audiences, but also made time to play for the staff at Stonington Beach Hotel, where she stayed during her visit.

The Geoffrey Tankard Choir, conducted by Graham Garton and with soloist Adrian Ridgeway on the organ, was chosen as this year's local offering.

At the other end of the musical spectrum, the Festival scored a hit with its presentation of Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, who helped bring `the sound of black South Africa' to the rest of the world. Julian Joseph, the brilliant young, black jazz pianist from England also thrilled audiences, and Bermuda flocked to see the evergreen Judy Collins in two concerts at Marriott's Castle Harbour Hotel.

Elsewhere on the music front, another highlight was the debut solo recital by pianist and director of the Dunbarton School of Music, Karol Sue Reddington.

Extraordinarily gifted, she triumphed in a difficult programme of Mozart, Bach and Chopin. In the second half she switched from piano to harpsichord, joined by her faculty colleagues Jack Kripl on flute and violinist Charles Li and the newly formed Bach Chamber Group for an outstandingly beautiful performance of Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concerto.

It has been a so-so year for the Bermuda Philharmonic Society who staged a major concert in the Cathedral in April of music by Holst. The orchestral rendition (assisted by 23 visiting players) of his famous suite, `The Planets', was certainly a success, but director Graham Garton is, in a sense, bedevilled by the fact that community choirs tend not to produce singers who can cope with works such as Holst's formidably difficult `The Hymn of Jesus', the other work on the programme.

Hints of an economic tightening of the belt possibly accounted for the all-local roster of performers who appeared in the November concert, devoted to music by Vivaldi and Faure m. Violinists from the Menuhin Foundation took on, with appropriate aplomb, the solos in all four concerti that make up Vivaldi's ever-popular `The Four Season'. The other major work was Faure m's `Requiem', always a choral favourite. This concert marked the first occasion on which the costly sound enhancement system at the Cathedral became fully operational.

The visual arts has been so active this year, that it has been difficult, at times, to keep track of all the exhibitions that have been staged around the Island.

The Bermuda National Gallery has continued to consolidate its position, chalking up another year where variety has definitely provided the spice of artistic life. Size-wise and expense-wise, at least, the much-vaunted Carib Show filled to chock-a-bloc, not only the National Gallery, but also the galleries of the Bermuda Society of Arts and the Arts Centre at Dockyard.

Miss Thomas, who arranged the show through Cultural Affairs, says she was thrilled that Bermuda was able to participate in the first ever, UNESCO-sponsored exhibition that covered the whole Caribbean (and in Bermuda's case, beyond).

The most interesting `National' event was probably the visit of the King of Prints, Ken Tyler, in conjunction with the Into Print show, curated by Dennis Sherwin, which opened in the autumn. The dynamic print-maker who has become almost as famous as the artists he works with, gave a public lecture and slide show here, and spent time with Bermuda's school children as they visited the show.

Speaking of slide shows, Mrs. Maurine Cooper has continued to give her very popular lunch-time talks on art and artists at the gallery.

Three years into its existence, the Gallery decided to pay tribute to the movers and shakers who got the whole thing going in the first place -- the late Hereward Watlington, who was given a fairly representative showing of his lifetime's work, a retrospective on Desmond Fountain, and, later in the summer a show dedicated to the work of Dr. Charles Zuill.

By far the most intriguing of their shows was the exhibition of mid-19th century Bermuda watercolours by an artist we have all known as John Gaspard Le Marchant. Thanks to some brilliant detective work by volunteer curator Jean Rosenthal, this artist turned out to be another man altogether (albeit a relation) -- namely, Gaspard Le Marchant Tupper.

The Bermuda Society of Arts is Bermuda's oldest art organisation and, although it rarely receives due credit, the underpinning from which most of what that has evolved here since, is in no small part thanks to the vision of its founders and early members. As usual, they have staged four members' shows this year, besides hosting many solo and group shows.

With its 40th anniversary looming in 1996, the Society showed it is still in innovative mood, opening its Harbour Gallery on Pitts Bay Road as an additional exhibition and retail outlet. The economic uncertainties of the past year took their toll with this venture and, in spite of high praise for its concept, the gallery faced the prospect of closure until art expert and dealer Nicholas Lusher joined forces with the Society, selling his own collection of early Bermuda art alongside members' work, thus, hopefully, transforming the gallery into a viable proposition.

The Edinburgh Gallery (named, apparently, in honour of Prince Philip's visit to the Society in 1994), just off the main exhibition area at City Hall, has provided a perfect venue for smaller shows.

Boost for Arts Centre Julie Hastings-Smith, the new curator at the Arts Centre at Dockyard, has breathed vigorous new life into both the appearance of the gallery and the quality of shows featured there; she has an eye for new talent which she encourages, and the hum of activity with the adjacent studios of Lynn Morell and Chesley Trott make this West End venue well worth the long trek to get there. Masterworks, now in its ninth year, has also had a very active year.

The highlight was undoubtedly Tom Butterfield's marathon, sponsored cycle ride from Edinburgh to London. The irrepressible director (sporting a Scottish kilt!) hit the headlines as he gave presentation copies of the Masterworks Bermudiana book to the National Gallery of Scotland and, on arrival, to the director of the National Gallery in London. Part of the proceeds of that adventure secured a second Winslow Homer for the Bermuda collection, and their November `Telethon' was successful in raising funds to purchase three paintings by the American artist Ambrose Webster.

Some artistic feathers were ruffled, however, by Masterworks' decision to stage a series of fund-raising exhibitions during the summer, where local artists' works were offered for sale. Some felt that this move was at variance with the original, and admirable mission of the Foundation, which was to collect and assemble works with a Bermuda connection.

Artists Sharon Wilson and Robert Bassett opened their own commercial galleries this year. Only time will tell if this small Island can support what is now quite a proliferation of retail outlets.

Solo shows, of varying merit, have been too numerous to detail, while group exhibitions have also made a strong showing, with `Growing', at the Society of Arts, and the multi-media show, entitled `Seeds' at Admiralty House, most deserving, perhaps, of special mention.

Before leaving the visual arts, a suggestion (once again!) that Bermuda should honour the achievements of Sam Morse-Brown, an artist whose paintings, especially his portraits, have won international pre-eminence. Now 92, he has left a unique record of the local personalities of our time. Bermuda has been his home for almost a quarter of a century and recognition of his legacy to this country is long overdue.

In the field of drama, BMDS had us all agog with promises of great things for this, their golden anniversary year. At the close, however, great expectations for a thrilling year of drama proved wildly over-optimistic. The only truly innovative production was Joel Froomkin's `Merry Wives of Windsor'. Love it or hate it, few would deny that his production provided a bouncingly vigorous, refreshingly new look at the genius of Mr. Shakespeare.

This, in spite of being set in present day Africa rather than mediaeval Scotland, could not be said for the Bermuda Festival's `Macbeth'. Lacklustre, sometimes inaudible performances by actors who are apparently and, one must add, astonishingly, employed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, were a huge disappointment to those who expect (and usually get) near perfection from these institutions.

Drama needs urgent attention As usual, drama received little more than a cursory nod from Festival organisers, the giant share of attention going to music. If, as they claim, the intention is to provide a festival that caters to all the arts, the drama section needs urgent attention.

The BMDS continued their year with another evening of Music Hall, and a revival of their choral section in a special concert entitled The Daylesford Singers, directed by Gaynor Gallant. Illness forced leading lady Carol Birch to withdraw from the cast of `Steel Magnolias', but Helen Coffey stepped heroically and competently into her shoes to complete the run of this all-women, tear-jerking Southern drama.

The performances of Tricia and Ken Morgan, Arthur Lugo and Brian Webb, in Gavin Wilson's production of `Murder By Misdventure' underlined the talent that is available to the Society.

The panto was just magic While this was a thoroughly entertaining murder mystery, this, again, was not the sort of play we had looked forward to for this half-century year. There seems to be a chronic lack of planning, let alone any sense of vision by those who purport to run BMDS these days.

Alan Ayckbourn's `A Chorus of Disapproval' which should have set Daylesford verbally a-sparkle, fizzled in a chorus of intense disappointment: inexperienced direction and glaringly amateur acting were somehow especially hard to accept in this year of all years. Never mind, good humour was restored with the decision to revert to traditional panto for this festive month, and Gavin Wilson's delightfully outrageous `Dame', emerged as one of the best performances of the year in `Robin Hood and Babes in the Wood'.

Moving steadily forward in its aim to establish professional theatre in Bermuda, Jabulani Repertory Company is now in its third season of cocktail theatre at the Hamilton Princess.

With director Patricia Pogson and producer Dusty Hind still at the helm, last winter's season included two new productions -- the zany musical, `Nunsense', and the smash comedy hit from London, `Don't Dress for Dinner'.

This season, we have so far seen another British farce, `Move Over, Mrs.

Markham' and two productions which are a slight departure from their usual offerings. `Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill', which tells in words and song, the story of Billie Holiday, provides a wonderful vehicle for the multi-talented Denise Whitter, while `Once On This Island', the Caribbean musical that was a surprise hit in London and New York, is absolutely enchanting. All three should draw the crowds once the upheaval of seasonal festivities are behind us. Another comedy, `Relatively Speaking' by Alan Ayckbourn, is slated to complete the quartet of shows in early January.

Patricia Pogson came up with another winner, this time wearing her Black Box Productions hat, when she staged `It's Showdown Time'. This updated, re-working of Shakespeare's `The Taming of the Shrew', set in a black neighbourhood of Phildelphia, provided a wonderfully comic and vitalised evening of theatre.

`Kidfest', through which Paula Maguire valiantly continues in her quest to bring first-rate children's theatre to Bermuda, presented another season of superb productions in the early part of the year. Outstanding were `Jennifer's Dream', a tap-dancing fantasy set in rural Quebec, and Sharon Lois and Bram from Nickelodeon's famous `Elephant Show'.

Two inspiring events on dance calendar In June, Stage One Production staged a play with a distinctly Bermudian flavour, Kensley McDowell's `Drums of Passion'. Described himself as "a work in progress'', it lacked polish, but was of special interest that it made a serious attempt to draw on the Island's `folk' heritage, particularly the role played by the Gombeys in Bermuda's history.

Dance may have been sparse in quantity this year, but compensated with two inspiring events. The first occurred when the National Ballet of Canada, one of the world's best companies, appeared at the Bermuda Festival. Although this was the `concert group', some of their leading dancers, notably Gizella Witowsky, Serge Lavoie and Jennifer Fournier, came along and delighted audiences with two classical pas de deux -- the Prokofiev `Romeo and Juliet' and the `white swan' duo from `Swan Lake'. If the two `modern', angst-driven works, so beloved of choreographers who appear to lack firm technical knowledge, were revealingly less satisfying, we were reminded that, in the hands of a genius such as the late Kenneth MacMillian, the melding of classical and jazz can be a joyously creative event. Such was `Elite Syncopations', humorously satirical and set to the irresistible rhythms of Scott Joplin, it was brilliantly danced by the company.

The other major event on the dance calendar was the Bermuda Civic Ballet's world premiere of `La Peri' which, in spite of the visit by hurricane `Felix' the week before, was staged in a picturesque outdoor setting in the grounds of Government House.

Although this is one of the oldest of the `Romantic' ballets, originally created in 1843, this latest version was mounted by international ballet stars Belinda Wright and Jelko Yuresha.

For dance fans, the appearance of the rising young dancer of New York City Ballet, Richard Marsden, made this a production to long remember. His spectacular leaps where he was, at times, suspended in mid-air, left us in no doubt why this young virtuoso is taking New York by storm. He was brilliantly supported by the three soloists -- all local dancers -- who also rose wonderfully to the sense of occasion. These were Alexandra Duzevic, Sophie Cannonier and Alison Masters Smith, who was coaxed out of self-imposed retirement to dance the title role.

The National Dance Theatre of Bermuda was invited to appear at the International Association of Black in Dance in Philadelphia in January. Their performance of Conchita Ming's `Earth Tones' was one of the highlights of this major dance event. They also participated in the Emancipation Service 75th Anniversary of Bermuda's Parliament in St. George's in August.

Dance Theatre's founder, Louise Jackson, says that, overall, this has been a year of quiet but intensive consolidation for the company. Choreographic star, David Allan, who has also taken New York (and half of Europe) by storm, seems to have adopted this company: far from abandoning Dance Theatre, his association has become even closer. He spent several weeks this summer working on the Snow Scene from `The Nutcracker', the full version of which is projected to open the Bermuda Festival of 1997. His affection for Bermuda, and the Dance Theatre in particular, stems, he says, from the fact that it was on the City Hall stage, in 1984, that his very first choreographic piece was presented by the National Ballet of Canada. He met Mrs. Jackson and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

The company has also been working on a planned tour of the Island, for next year, when dance will be taken to schoolchildren and adults at the West and East Ends as well as in Hamilton. An important aspect of this project, says Mrs. Jackson, is to bring back into the repertoire, many of the group's favourite works, for a new generation.

Musical theatre has had a highly successful year. One of the most exciting events was the formation of Two Islands Productions which aims to bring Broadway professionals and local talent together for a possible future performance, hopefully featuring Bermuda's best, in a New York production. To get that ambition on its way, a wonderful evening of song, `Broadway in Bermuda', was presented in October. Bad weather forced the show inside to City Hall, but nothing could dampen the thrill of the sheer professionalism of the New York contingent. These were not back row of the chorus-hopefuls, but award-winners who not only thrilled their audiences here, but were outstandingly supportive of the locals who held their own in this ambitious programme. Full marks to co-producer Iva Peele, whose idea it was.

The other highlight of the year was the Gilbert & Sullivan's production of `Me and My Girl' at City Hall, also in October.

A thoroughly English show, bubbling with Cockney wit which, surprisingly was as big a hit in New York as it was in London, seemed to be just the sort of thing everyone needed after the strife of the summer. A frankly thin, `Eliza Doolittle'-type plot is little more than an excuse for an evening of romping song and dance. The excellent cast, led by Richard Fell in a brilliant performance as happy-go-lucky Bill Snibson, Beverley Crick as his `Girl', Karen Musson, Kathryn Winter, Steve Parkinson, gave audiences what was probably the happiest theatrical evening of the year. Direction by Annette Hallett, musical direction by James Burn and choreography by Barbara Frith helped make a rather lightweight musical into a resoundingly popular success.

Now all we need is a theatre to cradle the talent that's bustin' out all over this Island.