Described by a Village Voice reviewer as “one of those special singers whose technique and blooming sound always serve sense and emotion,” world-renowned soprano Lisa Saffer sings at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 8, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Joining is pianist Anastasia Antonacos, an award-winning musician with a worldwide following. Admission is $10 for the general public and $4 for students and seniors. For tickets, visit . For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Saffer’s supreme musicality, stellar dramatic instincts and solid vocal technique have put her on opera stages around the world for roles as diverse as Berg’s Lulu and Handel’s Cleopatra. A Maine resident, she has sung with nearly every leading American orchestra and appeared throughout Europe. She received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and was nominated for an Olivier Award, London’s equivalent of the Tony.

A member of the applied music faculty at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Antonacos has performed around the world as a solo recitalist and chamber musician. She won first place at the International Young Artist Music Competition in Bulgaria, and holds prizes from the Capdepera International Piano Competition in Mallorca and the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition.

Saffer first gained prominence for her performances of baroque opera. Soon she began appearing in a landmark series of Handel recordings on Harmonia Mundi USA. Saffer is now much in demand for Handel roles at venues including Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass, New York City Opera, the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany, and Barcelona’s Gran Teatro del Liceu.

She is also sought after as a Mozart interpreter, acclaimed for her performances as Despina in “Così fan tutte” and Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro.”

Saffer is also widely recognized as an interpreter of modern and contemporary scores and is identified with the works of Oliver Knussen, several of which she has recorded for DGG. Her English National Opera performance as Lulu in Alban Berg’s opera of that name was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera in London, and honored with the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for best vocal performance.

Among other contemporary operas, Saffer is known particularly for her interpretation of the character Marie in Zimmermann’s “Die Soldaten,” which she has performed at ENO, Opera Bastille and New York City Opera.

Saffer’s many recordings appear on Harmonia Mundi USA, Virgin Classics, New World Records, DGG, Chandos and Telarc.

A native of Ann Arbor, she now lives in Portland. She is a voracious reader who also enjoys hiking, yoga and cooking.

has played in the Netherlands, Greece, Russia, France and Belgium, as well as various places in the U.S., including New York and Washington, D.C., where she also testified for funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. She has made solo appearances with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra.

Antonacos has collaborated with members of the Vermeer, Cassatt and DaPonte string quartets, and with renowned pianists Leonard Hokanson and Edmund Battersby. She has been a chamber music coach at Bay Chamber Concerts’ Next Generation program for many years, and regularly serves as a master class teacher and adjudicator.

She is a founding member of the Bayside Trio and Harlequine, and teaches at the University of Southern Maine as well as ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

Greg Arata ’96 performs with 1990s Deansmen John Shim ’98 (left), Jim Roberts ’99 (behind), and Jay Postell Pringle ’98 (right). Photograph by H. Lincoln Benedict '09.

The alumni Deansmen who celebrated the a cappella group’s 50th anniversary last Nov. 2–4 turned up the volume on their shared memories — all the way to 11.

There were powerful public moments, like Saturday night’s Chapel concert — see the slide show at left — featuring current and former Deansmen. The family feeling was quite literal, in fact, for Deansmen Matt Sullivan ’94 and his father-in-law Russell Baker ’64. “It was the first time they have ever sung together,” says Matt’s wife, Kristin Baker Sullivan ’94, the daughter of Russell Baker and Sharon Fisher Baker ’65. “It was such fun to watch them having so much fun.”

Kristin, who recalls how Matt and her father initially “bonded over being Deansmen” way back when, watched the Chapel concert with her mother. And from Sharon Baker’s perspective, the weekend figured at first to be a tagalong affair behind her husband. “But it turned out to be so much more than that,” Sharon says. “There was a surprising sense of being a part of the Deansmen family.”

The harmonious mix of Deansmen past and present was like a “superimposition of eras,” says Matt. For Russell, the embrace of Deansmen young and old quieted his worries about remembering words and music. “Although the voice has gone, the kid in me still had a great time,” he says.

Other Deansmen moments were private but still in perfect pitch. Post-concert, Greg Arata ’96 and fellow Deansmen retired to a residence hall stairwell, where songs sung among friends recaptured a cherished sense of solidarity. “We sang for each other,” Arata says. “We pulled out songs from ’93 that we had performed only once. It is astounding what came flooding back. Guys just kept shifting configurations — if you knew it, you joined in.

“To revisit that, to find again that sense of harmony and brotherhood, was the highlight. If only for a night.” [Slide show]

Audio of the Deansmen singing songs from their 50th anniversary concert.

By H. Jay Burns