OPERA WATCH.

1. An evening with RENEE FLEMING opened the new season of the 20/21 Club at Columbia University's Miller Theater on October 11. The soprano discussed her new CD, Renee Fleming, with Miller Theater executive director George Steel and series co-host Albert Imperato, then called upon "non-singer volunteers" from the audience for a personal singing lesson onstage. The popular 20/21 Club programs, sponsored by Universal Classics, Miller Theater and HMV Record Stores, were launched last year with the aim of developing the audience for classical music among college students. Conductor VALERY GERGIEV appeared in the series on November 29; future 20/21 Club events at Miller Theater will feature violinist LEILA JOSEFOWICZ (February 6) and composer/conductor PIERRE BOULEZ (March 1).

"Renee Fleming @ The Penthouse" will be the first telecast of Live From Lincoln Center's twenty-fifth anniversary season. On January 4 at 9 P.M. ET, Fleming, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and other special guests will offer a program of classical favorites and standard American tunes, telecast from Lincoln Center's intimate Kaplan Penthouse. Check local PBS listings for details.

2. Bass-baritone MARK S. DOSS sings Don Basilio in Lyric Opera of Chicago's Barbiere this month (24, 26, 29) and next (1, 3, 6). He travels to Hawaii Opera Theatre for a March run as Alfio/Tonio in Cav/Pag (2, 6, 8), then joins Houston Grand Opera to sing Riolobo in their production of Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas (April 28, May 2-13). He later takes on the Hoffmann villains for Michigan Opera Theatre (June 3, 8, 10) and Zaccaria in Cincinnati Opera's Nabucco (July 19, 21).

The ROSA PONSELLE FOUNDATION has announced the suspension, effective in 2001, of its International and "All Marylanders" competitions, citing "alarmingly high percentages of poorly trained singers resulting in a lack of artistic accomplishment over the past several years." Foundation president ELAYNE REYNOLDS DUKE now terms singers "an endangered species threatened with extinction as evidenced in a serious decline in the art. "The Foundation has resolved "to no longer contribute to the mediocrity in the art, as it currently stands." During the sixteen years of its "competition presentments," the Foundation has expended more than three million dollars in the awarding of cash prizes, study grant programs and travel stipends.

3. JON VICKERS made two autumn appearances at the Mannes College of Music in Manhattan. He teamed with pianist Richard Woitach for a performance of the Richard Strauss/Alfred Tennyson Enoch Arden on October 24. Three days later, the veteran tenor conducted a master class at the Mannes concert hall. On Friday, February 2, at 7:30, Mannes hosts a master ...