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 Bates College at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 8, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Joining Saffer 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 www.batestickets.com. 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 Bates, 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.

Antonacos 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 Bates.

Up next in the Bates College Concert Series are acclaimed opera singers Kelly Kaduce, soprano, and Lee Gregory, baritone, performing at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The couple are award-winning rising stars in opera and are in demand on concert and recital stages throughout the United States. Their Bates program includes works by Granados, Debussy and Grieg, as well as operatic arias and duets.

Admission is $10 for adults and $3 for students. For reservations and more information, please call 207-786-6135 or visit the concert series Web site.

Kaduce is celebrated for her acting ability as well as her elegant, seemingly effortless singing. She has sung leading roles nationwide and in Europe, and also performs in recital and orchestral concerts.

For her creation of the title role in David Carlson’s “Anna Karenina,” which premiered in 2006, Opera News proclaimed Kaduce “an exceptional actress whose performance was as finely modulated dramatically as it was musically. . . . her dark, focused sound was lusty and lyrical one moment, tender and floating the next.” Also last year, Kaduce won rave reviews for her Boston Lyric Opera debut, in the title role of Massenet’s “Thaïs.”

Lee Gregory is a gifted actor and singer with a beautiful, warm and ringing voice. Boasting a wide and varied repertoire, he is known for his ability to inhabit his characters. Opera News praised his Mercutio in Nashville Opera’s “Roméo et Juliette” as “nearly ideal.”

Gregory’s recent performing highlights include his New York City Opera debut as Moralès in “Carmen” and his multiple roles in the Boston Midsummer Opera’s production “The Marriages of Mozart.” A regular performer with American Opera projects, Gregory has collaborated with new playwrights and composers. He added to his musical theater credits with a gala concert with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra celebrating Richard Rodgers’ centenary.

The Bates College Concert Series concludes on March 1 with the popular American roots band The Holmes Brothers.

- Office of Communications and Media Relations