Sister Helen

Hilary Hahn is a disarming violinist. She performs with such technical assurance and tonal sweetness that a listener's reservations about interpretive depth tend to get weaker and weaker the more she plays. That was the case Sunday evening, when Hahn opened the Shriver Hall Concert Series. In an unusually heavy program of sonatas by Bach, Mozart and Brahms, the fiddler kept pouring on the aural charm, one beautifully centered note after another. It was hard not to be won over. But Hahn seemed to float serenely above the music at times, rather than get her fingers dirty, content to let the exceptional purity of her sound and clarity of her articulation carry the day by themselves.

SAN FRANCISCO - Death has always been the most prevalent character in opera. It might have a noble tint, dispatching clear-cut villains. It might be lingering, through illness, or sudden, unleashed by base passions. It is almost always so theatrical or poetic in nature that we can feel a safe distance from it emotionally; we might be touched by it, but not unnerved. "Dead Man Walking," a potent, if uneven, work now in its world premiere production at San Francisco Opera, presents us with three deaths so stark that there is no easy escape behind the wall of art. These deaths are not just in your face, they dig right into that deep-rooted place where you store your values and beliefs.

Sister Helen Burke, 78, Seton High School teacher Sister Helen Burke, a member of the Daughters of Charity who taught at the former Seton High School in Charles Village, died Saturday of heart failure at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg. She was 78. An educator for 51 years, she was on the Seton High School faculty from 1965 to 1983, teaching English and history. Born in Baltimore, she entered the Daughters of Charity in 1939. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in 1956 from St. Joseph's College, Emmitsburg, and her master's degree from Villanova University in 1965.

WHEN IT OPENED in 1919 on the north end of Baltimore's downtown business district, Preston Gardens was considered the local version of Central Park, a swath of public parkland with the potential to enhance every property around it. Over the years, the park has decreased in size, as St. Paul Place was widened and redesigned to slice through the southern end, and the Orleans Street Viaduct was built above it. The park also has fallen into disrepair as...

Sister Mary Thecla Lancaster, R.S.M., who was a compassionate and ubiquitous presence in the hallways and patient rooms of Mercy Medical Center for more than 40 years, died there Saturday of leukemia. She was 77.Assigned to the hospital's pastoral care department since 1976, she visited the sick and their families until several weeks ago when she was hospitalized, complaining that she was "being grounded."It was not uncommon to see Sister Thecla visiting patients in the wee hours."She brought an extraordinary gift of being able to connect with the sick who so often feel vulnerable and alone," said Sister Helen Amos, R.S.M.

Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson has received its first $1 million gift, a pledge that will enable the 124-year-old girls' school to build a classroom wing, as well as enrich its scholarship and faculty development funds.The family of the late Leroy E. and Irene B. Kirby initially pledged $600,000. Their daughter, Pat Kirby of Ruxton, pledged an additional $400,000 if the school could raise $2.1 million for the classroom wing by April 30."It's a tremendous expression of confidence in our school," said headmistress Sister Christine Mulcahy, who announced the gift after the challenge was met this week.

BDC ignored conventions in hotel choiceBy voting unanimously to locate the new Baltimore Convention Center headquarters hotel more than a mile from the center, the Baltimore Development Corporation and the mayor have shown precisely what is wrong with the current form of government for the city.Their institutional arrogance and inflexibility, in light of advice to the contrary by hundreds of experts who plan and conduct large national conferences and exhibits, is inexcusable.Even the mayor, smelling the disgust of the public in the wind, has tried to mitigate the decision by backing off and searching for a compromise.

Like the school colors of blue and white, Sister Helen Marie Duffy has worn well at Notre Dame Preparatory School.As biology teacher, boarding mistress and role model, she has woven herself through the fabric of the girls' school for 59 years, her entire religious life. An administrator since 1970 and headmistress since 1979, she has established the Towson school's reputation for academic excellence, fostered what she sees as a need for "refinement" among young women and been a loving -- and demanding -- presence in the lives of more than 5,000 graduates.

RAMBUNCTIOUS wallabies, emu and other animals from Down Under will become the stars of a new Australian wildlife region at the Baltimore Zoo, thanks to the popular annual fund-raiser known as Zoomerang! Although the exhibit will take several years to complete, zoo director Roger Birkel says zoo-goers will get a preview of what the exhibit will be like later this summer, when the wallabies and emu take up residence in the Main Valley.Birkel and his wife, Ellen Stokes, joined Zoomerang! co-chairs Emily and JR Paterakis (he's VP of marketing and sales at H&S Bakeries)