ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

VISUAL ART

Ransom Demand: Armed robbers who stole a Rembrandt and two Renoirs from the Swedish National Museum a few days before Christmas have written the museum demanding an undisclosed ransom for the pictures, valued at nearly $30 million. Photographs of the paintings--a small Rembrandt self-portrait from 1630 and Renoir’s late-19th century “Young Parisian� and “Conversation�--accompanied the letter. Stockholm police have told the London Daily Telegraph they will not negotiate with the thieves, who entered the seaside museum just before closing on Dec. 22. The robbers ordered guards on the ground at gunpoint before snatching the pictures and fleeing the scene in a waiting speedboat.

PERFORMING ARTS

Final Performance: The principal trumpet player with New Jersey’s Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra collapsed on stage just after performing a solo on New Year’s Eve and died at a nearby hospital. James M. Tuozzolo, 57, a 35-year member of the orchestra, apparently suffered a heart attack while the orchestra was closing its concert with Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood.� About 1,800 people were in the audience at the War Memorial Theater. Doctors from the audience, as well as a cello player who is also a physician, tried to revive Tuozzolo after he collapsed to the stage’s floor.

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To Fog or Not to Fog: The San Francisco Opera has suspended the use of some of its fog-making machines because of fears that the same fog that creates an ethereal mist on stage is damaging the health of opera singers. The most common theatrical foggers spray a chemical mist of mineral oil, or a mixture of glycol alcohols similar to those used in antifreeze. Three opera chorus members have workers’ compensation claims pending against the San Francisco Opera Assn. for injuries allegedly caused by the fog, and the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the company for a workplace safety violation for using the glycol foggers. The Opera has responded by suspending the machines’ use and allowing employees to skip performances that use any chemical fog. A spokesman for Los Angeles Opera, meanwhile, said Tuesday that the company does not use the glycol machines and that L.A. Opera is “continuously updating� all its fog-making equipment and is aware of concerns regarding the machines.

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Eclectic Orange Opener: Choreographer Mark Morris’ lively staging of Rameau’s 18th century comic opera-ballet, “Platee,� will open the Eclectic Orange Festival 2001 on Sept. 28-29 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Sung in French with English supertitles, it will be presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County in association with Opera Pacific. French tenor Jean-Paul Fouchecourt, who created the role at the 1997 Edinburgh Festival, will sing Platee, backed by San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Tickets will go on sale in the spring.

ENTERTAINMENT

Janet’s Honor: Janet Jackson will receive the special Award of Merit during Monday’s American Music Awards broadcast on ABC. Jackson will be honored for her “finely crafted, critically acclaimed and socially conscious, multi-platinum albums� and for her “spectacular performances on music videos, television and worldwide concerts.� Previous Award of Merit winners include Jackson’s brother, Michael, Bing Crosby, Johnny Cash, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston and Neil Diamond.

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Insurance Firm Sues Culkin: Actor Macaulay Culkin is being sued by an insurance company for money it paid to tenants who suffered losses in a fire that began in his family’s high-rise apartments. The suit by Travelers Property Casualty, which also names Culkin’s parents and the owners and managers of the New York apartment building, seeks more than $113,000 paid out to five policyholders. Fire investigators said that the December 1998 blaze started in a wall-mounted heater in one of the family’s two 19th-floor apartments and that the fire and smoke spread to nearby floors because Culkin’s mother, Patricia Brentrup, left her apartment door open when she and several of her children fled. Culkin had moved out of the apartment prior to the fire. A family spokesman said he had not seen the suit and had no comment.

QUICK TAKES

Russell Ferguson is leaving his post as associate curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art to become chief curator and deputy director of exhibitions and programs at the UCLA Hammer Museum. He takes the new post on March 1. . . . Rap mogul Sean “Puffy� Combs, whose trial on weapons charges in New York is set to begin Monday, sits down for a two-part interview with BET’s Tavis Smiley tonight and Thursday (at 11:30 both nights). BET says he “candidly talks about the gun charges, maintains his innocence and [discusses] facing a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.� . . . Cameron Crowe’s semiautobiographical “Almost Famous� picked up another year-end prize Tuesday when it was named best picture by the Online Film Critics Society. The group gave its top acting awards to Tom Hanks (“Cast Away�) and Ellen Burstyn (“Requiem for a Dream�) and picked Darren Aronofsky as best director (also for “Requiem�). . . . KTLA’s Rose Parade coverage topped all its competitors for the 26th consecutive year Monday, attracting 44% of the available viewing audience, or more than 1 million L.A.-area homes. . . . The Times’ Web site will post a list of the Grammy nominations at http://ukobiw.net./grammys, immediately after today’s 8:15 a.m. nominations announcement.