La Traviata

Grace Arnold Nalls, a retired commercial artist and stage performer, died of congestive heart failure July 30 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Homeland resident was 82. Born Grace Lucille Arnold in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park, she was a 1947 Eastern High School graduate and performed in school plays. She received a diploma from the Maryland Institute College of Art and earned a bachelor of arts from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. As a young woman, she worked as a commercial artist at the old Reliable Stores on West Baltimore Street.

British maestro John Eliot Gardiner found a dictionary that defines the word "conductor" as "a current passed from one sphere to another."While that definition comes from physics, Mr. Gardiner maintains it's an apt way to characterize the person who stands in front of an orchestra and, through various bodily gyrations, gets that orchestra to produce musical sounds.Mr. Gardiner makes his observation in "The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past," a splendid video just released on the Teldec label.

Mark Markham would like audiences to reconsider their approach to opera. This Sunday evening at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, Markham, along with a quartet of singers, will present a concert of operatic excerpts designed to focus attention on the music."

Wendy Robinson, who taught classical ballet in the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Institute, died Saturday of cancer at her home in Mount Washington.She was 53.Ms. Robinson joined the Peabody faculty in 1985.For nine years before that she had directed the Baltimore Ballet School, originally the Maryland Ballet School.She used the Royal Academy of Dancing training method and supervised courses at Peabody for ballet teachers who wanted to use the method.Robert Pierce, Peabody director, said yesterday, "Few teachers in our experience have given more of their life, love and ability to their students."

"Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings," wrote one perceptive critic of the musical stage.But often, as opera lovers know, those final moments can be a group affair, as scores of singers come onstage to share the passion of grand opera with the "dying" soloist. Opera choruses provide some of the most memorable melodies in all of music.With this in mind, the Naval Academy Glee Club will conclude this season's Distinguished Artists Series with a performance of some of the world's best-loved opera choruses and arias at 7: 30 p.m. Saturday in the academy's Alumni Hall.

It will be an operatic battle when three competitors sing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center tomorrow.They are finalists in the Marian Anderson International Vocal Competition, which began a week ago at the University of Maryland, College Park. Among the 35 contestants were singers from Lebanon, Korea, Japan, Britain and the United States.The finalists are Barbara Quintiliani, a 22-year-old soprano from Dorchester, Mass.; Tigran Martirosian, a 29-year-old bass from Russia; and Eleni Matos, a 33-year-old mezzo-soprano from Clearwater, Fla. They were chosen from a field of 12 semi-finalists by an international jury.

When the Baltimore Opera Company opens its 1995-1996 season with Verdi's "La Traviata" next Saturday, I hope the soprano who sings Violetta, the heroine, has the kind of voice that produces in a listener the feeling the French refer to as "jouissance."There's no exact English translation of the word. It's the quality of the singing voice that makes some people experience shivers up and down the spine. Others feel suddenly, inexplicably, moved to tears."Bliss," "ecstasy," "elation" only partly capture the essence of "jouissance," which in French also carries a sexual connotation.

Mission: To provide entertainment through quality operatic performances and outreach programs that enrich the region.Latest accomplishment: The Baltimore Opera Company just completed its 48th season of grand opera, which included two new productions, "Cavalleria Rusticana" with "Pagliacci," and "Norma," as well as "Eugene Onegin," the first Russian opera produced by the company in 20 years. Also, the Beatrice and David Miller Fund for Education was established this year to support the company's educational program, which includes performances in area schools and pre-performance lectures.

'La Traviata' Anne Arundel Community College's Opera AACC presents its production of Verdi's "La Traviata" through June 30 at the Robert E. Kauffman Theater in the Pascal Center for Performing Arts, 101 College Parkway in Arnold. Show times are 3 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m. Thursday and Saturday. "La Traviata" is a three-act opera based on Alexander Dumas' "La Dame aux Camellias. " It follows the story of courtesan Violetta Valery and Alfredo Germont, who meet at a gathering and fall in love, but money issues and interfering friends and relatives lead to misunderstanding and separation.