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Classical Music critic LLOYD SCHWARTZ on a live performance of Bellini''s opera "I Puritani" which features Luciano Pavarotti and Bevery Sills. (Legato Cla

Film critic STEPHEN SCHIFF reviews two new films: "The Vanishing," starring Jeff Bridges and Keifer Sutherland, and "Sommersby," starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.

2: Artist ROBERT IRWIN He's been a pivotal figure in American Art for over 30 years. He was one of the creators in the late 60s of the "light and space" movement, using unobtrusive objects, such as light, tape, and string to alter the viewers perception of the space in which the work is found. His work can be found in public spaces throughout the country, often using material natural to that environment, and delving into the "character" of the place. A new book, encompassing his work, has been published, "Robert Irwin" (published by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles).

2: Documentary filmmakers D.A. PENNEBAKER & CHRIS HEGEDUS. Their film, The War Room, is a behind the scenes look at the Clinton presidential campaign from the New Hampshire primary to the election. Pennebaker and Hegedus chronicled the campaign through the eyes of its two main strategists, James CArville and George Stephanopoulos.

Professor PATRICIA TURNER, of the African American Studies department at University of California, Davis. Her new book "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (U. of California Press) examines the historical and social ramifications of rumor in African American culture. From Ku Klux Klan-owned clothing and cigarette companies to a military conspiracy to infect Africans with AIDS, she looks at the role of legend and rumor, finding it has long been a feature of the community. Turner argues that this widespread type of communication offers a means of coping for the community as they confront and absorb racial oppression.

Rock critic ED WARD remembers the year 1983.

GREGORY ALAN-WILLIAMS, Emmy Award winning actor, author and playwright. He has written "A Gathering of Heroes, Reflections on Rage and Responsibility," a memoir of the Los Angeles Riots (Academy Chicago Publishers). On April 29, 1992, ALAN-WILLIAMS, an African American, heard that violence had erupted in South Central L.A. and chose to walk into the heart of the riot. He ended up risking his own life to rescue a Japanese American man who was being brutally beaten by some in the angry crowd. ALAN-WILLIAMS talks about the forces that took him into the melee and fueled his heroism and the lessons he took out.

2:Emmy-Award winning documentary filmmaker and producer, THOMAS LENNON. His newest documenatary examines the interaction between the tabloid press and the mainstream media: "Tabloid Truth: the Michael Jackson Scandal" (which airs on PBS stations February 15th). By watching the story of alleged sexual abuse swell from verifiable news to national spectacle, LENNON questions the state of American journalism, as CNN fights for the same stories once relegated to the National Inquirer.

MARY FISHER was the face of AIDS/HIV at the Republican National Convention in 1992 where she gave a speech imploring the party to lift the "shroud of silence" about the disease. FISHER comes from a wealthy prominent Republican family. Her father, Max Fisher was Honorary Chairman of the Bush/Quayle '92 National Finance Committee. Since she went public about her HIV-positive status, FISHER has been an eloquent voice in the fight against AIDS misinformation and discrimination. She's also the founder of the Family AIDS Network, Inc. which fosters AIDS awareness and compassion. (678 Front Street NW, Suite 150, Grand Rapids, MI 49504; Phone: 616-451-2361) She's compiled a new book of her speeches, "Sleep With the Angels: A Mother Challenges Aids," (Moye

Children's book writer and illustrator MAURICE SENDAK. He's been at it for over 40 years. His books are classics: "Where the Wild Things Are," "In the Night Kitchen," and others. They are "unsentimental fantasizes" (LA Times Magazine), challenging the belief that children should be protected from their fears and anxieties. In all, SENDAK has illustrated 80 children's books (19 of which he wrote). He's also designed over 10 opera sets, including one for "The Nutcracker." SENDAK has a new book, about a pack of homeless kids, "We are all in The Dumps with Jack and Guy." (HarperCollins Publishers).

2: Clarinetist, jazz musician, and klezmer virtuoso DON BYRON. He's an unlikely candidate to play kelzmer, a product of Eastern European Yiddish culture: BYRON is African American and dreadlocked. BYRON has become best known for klezmer, but musically he's all over the map: He plays jazz with his Don Byron Quintet, modern classical music with the Semaphore quintet, and he toured Europe last fall with Music for Six Musicians, an Afro-Cuban ensemble. He's also currently writing a classical piece for the avant-garde Kronos Quartet. BYRON's most recent CD is "Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz," (Elektra Nonesuch).