BRIEFLY IN DATEBOOK

Applications are being accepted for the Festival of Arts, a nine-week

summer event at the Irvine Bowl Park in Laguna Beach. The work of about

155 artists will be represented for show and for sale. Interested artists

from surrounding cities, including Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, should

submit slides of their best artwork and a completed application form to

the Festival of Arts by Feb. 28. Artists must be able to show they have

lived in their city for at least 12 months. For a form, call (949)

464-4233.

Conductor replaced for March performances

Valery Polyansky will replace Bolshoi Symphony music director Mark

Ermler for two orchestra performances at the Orange County Performing

Arts Center on March 10-11, the Philharmonic Society has announced.

Ermler is ill and will not be able to join the symphony’s U.S. tour.

The programs for the concerts will remain the same. Scores include

Tchaikovsky’s Coronation March and Piano Concerto No. 1, Rachmaninoff’s

Symphony No. 2 and Mussorgsky’s “Dawn Over the Moscow River.”

Tickets are $15-$55. The Center is at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa

Mesa. Information: (949) 553-2422.

Bartoli to make a stop at the Center

Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli will perform one of her three

U.S. recitals Feb. 26 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Lucinda Carver, music director of the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, will

give a preview lecture at 7 p.m.

Bartoli will sing an all-Vivaldi program in this Southern California

exclusive appearance -- her first since the Philharmonic Society

presented her at the Center in 1995. Tickets are $55-$85. The Center is

at 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Information: (949) 553-2422.