"the best things in life are free'', is true.

When its Bermuda Fringe Festival concert opens at 8 p.m. on January 28 at the Anglican Cathedral, the programme will include the world premiere of two works composed by Mr. Vic Glazer and Ms Tatiana Dran.

Pianist-composer Mr. Glazer's Fantasy for the New Millennium will be performed by his fellow faculty members, violinist Jyrki Pietila, and pianist Dran.

"I have been composing all my life, but most of what I do is programmatic,'' Mr. Glazer explained.

"Somebody would say, `write for this film, or that television show' and I could do it, but for me to sit down and come up with an original idea to compose for is not something I do all the time, so when the idea popped into my head I jumped at it.'' Explaining the concept behind his composition, Mr. Glazer said: "Somebody on a bicycle is just riding through the countryside -- it doesn't matter where -- and he or she is looking around and just taking in everything. It is basically wonderment: look at this, look at that. And it ends on a note. He or she comes to a stop and wonders what's next.'' While it may seem strange to some that so accomplished a conductor, arranger and pianist would defer from playing his own composition, particularly at its very first performance, Mr. Glazer is quick to explain his decision.

"It's a difficult piece and it takes somebody who is more classically trained than I am to be able to play it,'' he said. "I am very good at what I do, but while I have Tatiana and Jyrki's passion, I don't have their technique, so I wouldn't do as much justice to it as they can.'' While the talented violinist is more than happy to oblige, he agrees that the work is "technically challenging here and there''.

"Vic's work is very, very interesting. I am very challenged by it, and performing it in a Cathedral is an extra dimension,'' Mr. Pietila said.

"I am really looking forward to how it is going to sound in a Cathedral with a long echo and an environment where we are used to hearing different music.'' Certainly, the violinist is very upbeat about its composition and feels certain it will find ready acceptance with its audience -- a fact with which Mr. Glazer conceurs.

"The style is so different and big, and it allows me to do a lot of things.

It has so many dimensions -- a little bit contemporary, a little bit classical, and a little bit jazz,'' Mr. Pietila said.

"It is tonal, which means it should be easy on the ear,'' Mr. Glazer added.

"There are surprises in it -- changes of key, and primary modulations. I don't necessarily blend from one key to another.'' In another part of the programme, Mr. Glazer will perform another of his his own composition, Jazz Stylings in the Manner of J.S. Bach, on piano.

Yugoslav-born Tatiana Dran's Dolphin Variations takes its inspiration from her artist sister Maya Rajkovic's canvases on that much-loved marine mammal.

"The work is neo-impressionistic, and consists of a theme and seven variations, based on a set of 12 paintings which my sister did,'' Ms Dran said.

"We were mutually inspired and wrote and painted together. My music is designed to complement her work.'' Described by the Bermuda Conservatory of Music's Dr. Karol-Sue Reddington, who will play Miss Dran's composition on piano, as "wonderful mood pieces which almost call up quotations from a piece by Debussy'', she also says Dolphin Variations flows with colour and the timbre of the piano.

"You can `see' the motion of the ocean,'' she said. "There is a lot of movement in the work. Since they are variations, there are little snippets, and you come back to the same thing again. The moods do repeat.'' In addition to the world premiere pieces, the January 28 concert programme will include two arias and a recitative from Bach's Cantata No. 170, sung by mezzo-soprano Joan Budden, with Liz Pitman on violoncello, and continuo by Ms Budden's husband, John York Skinner.

Miss Budden is on the faculty of the Bermuda Conservatory of Music, and Ms Pitman, who teaches at Warwick Primary School, is well known to local audiences as a member of the Bermuda Philharmonic Society. Mr. Skinner is vice-principal of the Bermuda Academy of Music, where he also teaches voice.

Sixteen-year-old Jay Butler will play the second movement of Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26, accompanied by Bermuda Conservatory piano teacher Nikki Herbst.

As a soloist, Ms Herbst will perform Changes from Music for Piano by A. Louie.