Arts Scene

THE ``LOU RAWLS PARADE OF STARS'' telethon last Saturday raised nearly $11 million in cash and pledges for 43 predominantly black colleges. The six-hour telecast, carried in 56 cities, featured appearances by 50 celebrities, including Aretha Franklin, Bill Cosby, George Burns, and Bob Hope. SOVIET EXPATRIATE FILMMAKER Andrei Tarkovsky, who passed on Monday in Paris, will be remembered for his strong criticism of government control of the arts in the USSR and for a string of highly acclaimed films including, ``Andrei Rublev,'' ``Nostalgia,'' and, most recently, ``The Sacrifice,'' which won the Cannes Film Festival's Special Grand Prize this year. ``LES MIS`ERABLES,'' the hit musical from London, had its US premi`ere in Washington last Saturday to good reviews. But a malfunction of the rotating stage at the Kennedy Center Opera House forced cancellation of two sold-out performances Sunday. The show was back in the swing Monday. COMPOSERS WANTED: The New York Youth Symphony, an orchestra made up of gifted musicians aged 12-22, will commission three works for full orchestra, to be premi`ered in Carnegie Hall during the orchestra's 1987-88 season. Applications from composers are being accepted through Jan. 31 (at 881 7th Ave., New York, NY, 10019). ONE OF THE NEW YEAR'S MAJOR ART SHOWS, ``The Age of Sultan S"uleyman the Magnificent,'' opens Jan. 25 at Washington's National Gallery. It will chronicle the golden age of the Ottoman Empire. After closing in Washington in May, it will be seen in Chicago and New York.