Worldwide: City to city

Sharon Gethings sgethings@mailcity.com

Munich

The Sumi Collection is one of the largest and most important collections of Japanese textiles in the world. Featuring the traditional coats (hanten and happi) of fire-fighters and merchants from the 19th and early 20th centuries, it underlines the highly refined aesthetics of Japanese design - even when applied to the everyday field of work clothing. In a collaboration with Japan's Kairos Kulturagentur, Munich's Die Neue Sammlung museum is exhibiting a selection of Men's Clothing from the Sumi Collection, featuring items which have never been on public display and which demonstrate how the appeal of great design never dates.

Die Neue Sammlung, Staatliches Museum fur angewandte Kunst, Prinzregentenstrae 3, Munich, Germany (00 49 89 22 78 44) to 5 Apr, closed Mon, DM3-5

Dublin

Next week sees the beginning of the San Francisco Symphony 1999 European Tour with a performance at Dublin's National Concert Hall. During the tour, the orchestra (below) will be visiting 14 cities; the programmes will include works by Charles Ives, Mendelssohn, Prokofiev and Mahler. Michael Tilson Thomas became the orchestra's music director in 1995, consolidating a relationship begun in 1974 when, at the age of 29, he made his debut with them conducting Mahler's Symphony No 9. The 1996 tour attracted great critical acclaim - and garnered Tilson Thomas the French order of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Tickets should be at a premium.

National Concert Hall, Earlsford Terrace, Dublin, Eire (00 353 1 475 1572) Wed 20 Jan, 8pm, Irpounds 15-55

Rome

During the 18th century, Venice battled Paris for the title of Europe's capital of art, with its preponderance of important painters, sculptors and architects. Masterpieces from Ca' Rezzonico, at the ancient Venetian embassy in Rome, is an exhibition of some 180 works from this period which show why Venetian art was so in demand. The exhibition includes paintings by Tiepolo, Longhi, Guardi and Canaletto, as well as sculptures by Canova, furniture and examples of fine porcelain.

Palazzo Venezia, via del Plebiscito 118, Rome, Italy (00 39 06 841 2312) to 18 Feb, L8,000-L12,000

New York

For nearly 20 years, Horst Hamann has been photographing the Big Apple and his unique ability to capture the soaring magnificence of its architecture has resulted in New York Vertical by Horst Hamann, a show of 35 silver-gelatin prints measuring eight feet by two-and-a-half feet. Shot to create an extended vertical image, each photograph suggests what Hamann calls a "fifth compass point", pointing "upwards, above and beyond".

Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, USA (00 1 212 534 1672) to 18 April, free