With the Bermuda Festival all set to celebrate its 20th anniversary in January, one of the great figures of the music world will be coming here to take part.

Lord Menuhin, whose participation and enthusiasm for the concept of the Island's annual tribute to the arts, did so much to get the Festival off to a flying start, had originally been invited back as an honoured guest of the 1995 Festival.

But, to the delight of all involved, says Festival chairman, Mr. Peter Lloyd, Lord Menuhin replied that if he came, he would like to conduct an orchestra.

The result of that wish will be a Gala Concert to be held in City Hall on January 17, at which Menuhin will conduct some of the musicians whose group bear his name. The Menuhin Foundation players, including several past members, whose teaching of strings and performances in the Island's orchestras has so elevated Bermuda's musical life, will be playing a programme which will be mainly Mozart.

Says Mr. Lloyd, "Sir Edwin Leather, who is an old friend of Lord Menuhin, got him to come back. We are very pleased to be able to have this chance of thanking him for all he has done for the cause of music in Bermuda.'' The programme for the concert -- which, Mr. Lloyd emphasises is not yet finalised -- will probably include the Mozart Symphony No. 40, and the Mozart Violin Concerto, featuring a gifted young student from the famous Menuhin School in England as soloist.

"We were anxious to come up with a really good programme for the Festival this year, as it's our 20th anniversary,'' says Mr. Lloyd. The brochure, mailed out last week for advance bookings indicates that the Festival Committee has done just that.

Kicking off the '95 season will be the King's College Choir from Cambridge University. Acknowledged as being by far the most famous of all boys' choirs, the ensemble's annual Christmas Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, broadcast by the BBC World Service, attracts an estimated 180 million listeners each year.

Consisting of 16 boy choristers and 14 undergraduate choral scholars, the choir dates back to the reign of King Henry VI, who founded the college in 1441. He directed that daily singing of the church services would take place in a building whose magnificent dimensions were more those of a cathedral than a chapel. Bermuda can thank Mr. Lloyd for obtaining this outstanding group: having read History at King's (no, he was not a singer, but did obtain a `Blue' for running against Oxford as an undergraduate) he made enquiries about the choir coming to Bermuda while he was on a visit to the university last year. "I didn't expect to be able to get them so soon, as they have an extensive touring calendar, but it just so happened that they could fit us in.

Some of the undergraduate singers heard me asking the Director of Music if they would be interested in a trip to Bermuda and they were all saying `Yes! Yes!', so perhaps that helped!'' Opening the Festival on January 9, the three-night run will take place at St.

Theresa's Cathedral.

The National Ballet of Canada -- one of the world's best -- has also been invited and will stage a mixed programme of classics and contemporary ballet favourites. Two pas de deux from the great classic ballets will be included.

The `white swan' pas de deux from the 2nd act of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, possibly the most famous of all, has been re-staged for the National Ballet by the late Erik Bruhn from the original Petipa version. The other pas de deux is the famous balcony scene from John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet, set to Prokoviev's music. South African-born Cranko, who died in 1973, is recognised as one of the leading choreographers of this century, establishing his reputation with the Sadler's Wells and then Royal Ballet and with his subsequent directorship of the Stuttgart Ballet, catapulted it to international fame.

Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Elite Syncopations, set to the infectious rhythms of Scott Joplin's rag-time and consisting of a suite of virtuoso dances, is one of the most popular contemporary ballets. Staged originally for the Royal Ballet, it has been in the repertoire of the Canadian National Ballet since 1978 and remains one of their most popular pieces.

Also in the programme will be Jean Grand-Maitre's Frames of Mind, a pas de deux which illustrates, through the use of a classical couple filmed on a screen behind dancers performing in a more modern idiom, that all ballet is rooted in the same classical and hard-earned technique. Finally, Split House Geometric introduces the latest in contemporary choreography, by young Canadian choreographer, John Alleyne in 1990.

The unusual sounds of five saxophones playing a mixture of jazz and the classics should attract wide audiences when the American Amherst Saxophone Quartet comes to town. Formed 15 years ago, and featuring some of the country's leading musicians, their programme will include pieces by Bach, Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake's ragtime, and other favourites.

The on/off saga of the Geoffrey Tankard Foundation Chamber Choir is on again, due to a last minute reprieve from the Immigration Department which will enable its conductor, Graham Garton to wield his baton after all. Formed as a charitable body from which performance proceeds go to help young people pursuing the arts, the choir will be accompanied by well-known Bermudian organist, Adrian Ridgeway, who will also play two solos. The programme will include folk songs, English madrigals, spirituals and sacred music.

The timelessness and boundary-defying genius of Shakespeare will once again be demonstrated when the Haworth Shakespeare Festival group will transport `Macbeth' far from 11th century Scotland to 20th century Africa. Director Stephen Rayne's concept is based on the premise that the same forces of internecine wars, famine, disease, corruption, which threaten Africa today, were prevalent in the Scotland of Shakespeare's play. The actors, most of whom have trained with and taken leading roles in Britain's Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, will be led by Hakeem Kae Kazim in the title role. This, incidentally, is the only drama offering of the entire Festival.

Children get a show all to themselves this year, when `Mozart, Monsters and Matisse' requires all adults to be accompanied by a child for the hour-long show. Mozart comes to life in the form of a puppet reacting to his own piano concerto. It also features Little Blue, a friendly monster who resides undersea in Matisse-like surroundings.

Julian Joseph is already being hailed as Britain's newest and brightest star on the international jazz scene. Educated at Boston's Berklee College of Music (where he collaborated with Branford Marsalis), he brings his acclaimed Jazz Quartet to play a three-night run at City Hall. His two CDs, The Language of Truth and Reality have given him star billing and he has appeared at the Montreux, Aldeburgh and Glasgow Festivals. Also a talented composer who also surprised his fans with his singing on the Reality label, Joseph will play a mix of standard jazz and his own compositions.

Recognised as the world's leading harpist, Marisa Robles has brought fresh popularity to this beautiful instrument. Ms Robles, who will also be performing with the English Chamber Orchestra, has played with the world's leading orchestras. She has recently completed the Emmy-award TV series, `Concerto', with James Galway and Dudley Moore.

The English Chamber Orchestra makes yet another welcome return to play three separate programmes. Stephen Hough will play the Mozart Piano Concerto in E flat, Marisa Robles and William Bennett will perform the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp and he will also play the Vivaldi Flue Concerto. Other highlights will include Haydn's Symphony No. 84, Handel's Concerto Grosso, Mozart's Symphony No. 33 and extracts from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

Stephen Hough, a promising young pianist on the British music scene has played with many of the world's leading orchestras. For his Bermuda visit he will include in his programme the Copland Piano Variations, and music by Schumann, Haydn, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.

Judy Collins, who sang at President Clinton's inauguration revels in January, needs no introduction as one of America's enduring musical stars. Soon to be seen in the movie `Junio' in which she guest stars with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emma Thompson and Danny De Vito, Ms Collins will be singing songs from the 'sixties for her three-night engagement at Marriott's Castle Harbour Hotel.

Peter Schickele of PDQ Bach fame, is a composer, musician and author as well as one of America's leading satirists. His Bermuda appearance will offer what is described as a "casual'' evening of original songs of the humorous variety.

South African street music makes its debut at this year's Festival with the appearance of Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, three singers and dancers backed by the Makgona Tshole Band. Clad in traditional African outfits, the group will be appearing at the Southampton Princess Mid-ocean Amphitheatre for three evening shows.

Closing out the Festival will be the Midsummer Opera Company's production of Mozart's great opera, The Marriage of Figaro. Already seen here in Cosi fan Tutte, the group will this time be bringing an orchestra with them. Referring to the premiere in 1786, one of Mozart's singers reputedly recalled that even during rehearsals, the musicians and singers would keep calling out "Bravo, maestro! Long live the great Mozart!'' and the length of the premiere, in Vienna in 1786, was almost doubled because of the constant demand for encores.

Advance booking order forms may be obtained from the Bermuda Festival Office in the Chamber of Commerce Building at the Ferry Terminal, or from the Visitors Service Bureau, in the same building.

KING'S COLLEGE CHOIR -- The famous boys' choir from King's College, Cambridge, left , will make its first appearance at the Bermuda Festival when it opens the 20th anniversary season in January.

THE MAESTRO RETURNS -- Lord Menuhin, right , who appeared in the very first Festival, returns to conduct a Gala Concert.

FESTIVAL TREAT -- Singer Judy Collins will entertain Bermuda in a three-night appearance at Marriott's Castle Harbour.