ARTS / Cries & Whispers

GORECKI, Bono, Ralph Fiennes - all names to conjure with. If you know how to pronounce them. For anyone who has ever had a scintillating point to make about a conductor or film director, only to lose all credibility by stumbling over their name, here is Hughes's guide to those arty names you've always had trouble saying, but were afraid to ask about. It's highly selective, probably fallible, but tolerably authoritative. Further suggestions most welcome - put them on a postcard to me, c/o Arts, IoS, 40 City Rd, London EC1Y 2DB, and we'll do this again soon.

Leonard Bernstein, composer. . . . . . . . Burnstyne, not Burnsteen

Bjork, singer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Byerk

Bono, singer with U2. . . . . . . . . . . .Bonno, not Boh-no

Sonny Bono, singer with Cher. . . . . . . .Boh-no, not Bonno

David Bowie, singer. . . . . . . . . . . . rhymes with Snowy, not Wow-ee

Cher, singer and actress. . . . . . . . . .Share

Cholmondeleys, dance company. . . . . . . .Chumleys

Kurt Cobain, singer. . . . . . . . . . . . CO-bane, not C'BANE

Aaron Copland, composer. . . . . . . . . . Cope-land

Francis Ford Coppola, film-maker. . . . . .COPE-uh-la

Angus Deayton, TV quizmaster. . . . . . . .Deeton, not Dayton

Degas, painter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Duh-gah, not Day-gah

Gerard Depardieu, actor. . . . . . . . . . J'AI-rar Duh-pud-JUH

Featherstonehaughs, dance company. . . . . Fanshaws

Ralph Fiennes, actor. . . . . . . . . . . .Rafe Fines

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, singer. . . . . .D-trick Fisher Deeze-cow

Frank Gehry, architect. . . . . . . . . . .Gear-y

Goethe, writer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GUR-ter

Henryk Gorecki, composer. . . . . . . . . Ger-RET-ski

Haydn Gwynne, actress. . . . . . . . . . . Hay-den Gwyn, not Hide'n'

Agnieszka Holland, film-maker. . . . . . . Ann-yesh-ka

Nicholas Hytner, theatre director. . . . . HEIGHT-ner

Irene Jacob, actress. . . . . . . . . . . .Ee-RENN Yack-OBB

Shobana Jeyasingh, dancer. . . . . . . . . Sher-BARN-er JIE-er-sing

Chen Kaige, film director. . . . . . . . . rhymes with tiger

Kiri Te Kanawa, opera singer. . . . . . . .Tay CAN-uh-wuh

Herbert von Karajan, conductor. . . . . . .Fonn Carr-AYE-an

Krzysztof Kieslowski, film-maker. . . . . .Chris-toff Kiz-lov-ski

R B Kitaj, painter. . . . . . . . . . . . .Kit-aye

Roy Lichtenstein, painter. . . . . . . . . LICK-tern-styne

James Levine, conductor. . . . . . . . . . rhymes with divine

Sidney Lumet, film-maker. . . . . . . . . .Loo-met

Olivier Messiaen, composer. . . . . . . . .Messy-Un (as in Un ami)

Julia Migenes, opera singer. . . . . . . . M'Guinness

M Butterfly, play and film. . . . . . . . .M'sieur, not Em

Michelangelo, artist and Ninja turtle. . . Mickle, not Michael

Amedeo Modigliani, artist . . . . . . . . .Ammer-day-o Mod-ill-YARny

Anne-Sophie Mutter, violinist. . . . . . . ANN-ser-fee MUH-tair

Nietzsche, writer. . . . . . . . . . . . . rhymes with teacher

Arvo Part, composer. . . . . . . . . . . . Pairt

Joe Pesci, actor. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peshy

Michel Petrucciani, jazzman. . . . . . . . PetrOOSHiarny

Michelle Pfeiffer, actress. . . . . . . . .Fife-er (the P is silent, as in Psmith)

Augustus Pugin, architect. . . . . . . . . Pew-djin, not Pewg-in

Greta Scacchi, actress. . . . . . . . . . .Gretta Scarky

Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor. . . . . . . .SchvARTS-ern-egger

Anja Silja, opera singer. . . . . . . . . .Anya Sill-yer

Uma Thurman, actress. . . . . . . . . . . .OOH-mer, not Ewe-mer or Er-mer

Van Gogh, painter. . . . . . . . . . . . . rhymes with och, but with even softer C

Matthew Warchus, theatre director. . . . . WARTCH-us

Wim Wenders, film-maker. . . . . . . . . . Vim Venders