The first International Covent Garden Arts Festival, an event to be held every two years in London, will take place Sept. 12 to 22.
One attraction will be the outdoor screen in the piazza area showing live relays of Jonathan Miller's production of "Tosca" from the English National Opera at the Coliseum; Piero Faggioni's "Don Quichotte" from the Royal Opera House, and a silent classic movie, "Hedda Gabler," accompanied by the Covent Garden Festival Orchestra.There will be lunchtime talks and conversation by such writers as Ruth Rendell (venue yet to be arranged) and, in the Opera House's crush bar, by leading fashion designers.
There will be music in churches and an exhibition of dressing-room secrets at the Theater Museum where visitors will be able to pick up makeup tips from stars and try out materials themselves.
Many events will be free; otherwise prices range from about $6 for lunchtime talks to $150 for the most expensive tickets for the Royal Opera House for Hildegard Behrens performing excerpts from her operatic roles. First International Covent Garden Festival, 42 Central Avenue, The Market, Covent Garden, London WC2 8RF (information, 011-71-497-2949 dialed from the United States; box office 240 3181).