Olli Mustonen

It's a compelling enough reason to get out of the house to hear the live sound of well-honed, smartly arranged, passionately big band jazz in Ventura County. But the appearance of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Sunday, also comes at a time when that group, the pride of the West Coast big band scene, is making huge leaps into the jazz world at large.

If we are to believe Stravinsky's opinions as expressed in his writings, we could easily conclude that the composer would not have approved of Olli Mustonen's performances of the three Stravinsky works for piano and orchestra that made up the first half of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Stravinsky program Friday afternoon at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

* MOVIES: Now that all the big holiday movies have been released, this is a good time to catch up with some of the smaller films still playing, such as "The Whole Wide World" (Edwards University, Irvine), a fascinating account of the strange love affair between reclusive pulp writer Robert E. Howard (Vincent D'Onofrio), creator of Conan the Barbarian, and teacher Novalyne Price (Renee Zellweger). . . . In animation, there's life beyond Disney.

F inlandization. It is a term coined in the Cold War, a name given to the politics of appeasement and conciliation pursued by Finland when the Soviet Union lurked next door. It's best not to make waves when your neighbors are Red. Things change and the term recedes into the remote past. Unless you're a Finnish musician.

Saturday morning at the Ojai Festival is traditionally the time for an innocuous family concert, which offers for many out-of-town festival-goers a few free hours in an otherwise musically packed day to savor these splendid surroundings. This year's exceptional festival provided no such liberty, not when, at the unmusical hour of 10 a.m., extravagantly accomplished, versatile, interesting and refreshingly irreverent musicians turned into bunnies. One of the bunnies was Esa-Pekka Salonen.

"The Finnish are coming," screams the Ojai Festival advertising campaign. It's an irresistible marketing hook for the annual musical event: Esa-Pekka Salonen has taken the reins as the 1999 guest music director and liberally stocked the program with artists and works from his home country.

Following is a more complete listing of summer events, organized by category. THEATER Friday-May 30: "Glamorous Assassin," Theater 150. Friday-June 27: "The Marrieds," Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center. *"Something Green," Whitmore-Lindley Theatre. Friday-July 3: "On the Verge," 24th Street Theatre. Saturday: "Michael Feinstein Sings 100 Years of Gershwin," Norris Theatre. Saturday-July 4: "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Knightsbridge Theatre. Saturday-July 4: "Once in Doubt," Odyssey Theatre.

Following is a chronological list of highlights for the summer. THROUGH SUNDAY You've only got three more days to visit the Ahmanson Theatre at the Los Angeles Music Center and see Matthew Bourne's haunting dance-theater spectacle "Cinderella," a retelling for adults of the classic fairy tale, set amid the air raids of World War II London.