FALL PREVIEW : The Calendar Critics’ Best Bets for the Rest of ’90 : Music & Dance

How can you tell fall has arrived in eternally sunny Southern California? Well, one way is by the start of the autumn arts and entertainment season. This special fall preview section provides listings of events from today through the end of the year and our critics’ picks for the best bets in film, pop music, jazz, stage, music and dance and the visual arts. (Some box-office telephone numbers may not be in operation yet.) After a summer featuring visitors and festivals, the fall season will be dominated--as it should--by the home teams in their established subscription series.

The first major event, however, is more a late-summer touring entry than a fall regular. The New York City Ballet takes the Segerstrom Hall stage of the Orange County Performing Arts Center for seven performances Tuesday through next Sunday. (See story Page 9.)

Former music director Andre Previn conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in its first three weeks of concerts at the Music Center, Oct. 11-26. Then, music director-designate Esa-Pekka Salonen arrives for a week, Nov. 1-4, with a Franco-Finnish program featuring the U.S. premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s “Du Cristal.” Following that, the Philharmonic hosts the Leningrad Philharmonic, with conductors Yuri Temirkanov and Mariss Jansons, in four Prokofiev/

Tchaikovsky programs, Nov. 7-10.

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra opens with concerts at Ambassador Auditorium and the Japan America Theatre, Oct. 17-19, led by Joshua Rifkin. Music director Iona Brown turns up to lead her band in a Baroque-based program Nov. 28-30, and the “Brandenburg” Concertos, Dec. 7-9.

Music Center Opera has already been busy with “Fidelio” and “Nixon in China.” The season continues with a new production of Mozart’s “Idomeneo”--designed by Maurice Sendak--Tuesday through Oct. 5, and a production of Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice”--from Santa Fe Opera--with Marilyn Horne and Benita Valente in the title roles Oct. 3-14.

The Long Beach Opera season opens Nov. 28 and Dec. 2 at the Terrace Theater, with a pairing of Massenet’s “La Navarraise” and Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana,” as staged by Hugo de Ana.

Swedish baritone Hakan Hagegard launches the new season at Ambassador Auditorium Saturday. Other visitors include the Royal New Zealand Ballet, bringing a “Coppelia” to El Camino College Oct. 7, on the company’s first U.S. tour.