Arts Capacity to Present World Premiere of Mini Opera WATERS RISING in January

Arts Capacity will present the world premiere for "Waters Rising" as January 9, 2023. "Waters Rising" is a mini-opera produced in collaboration with Walker State Faith and Character Based Prison in northwest Georgia and Chattanooga's Hunter Museum of American Art. The production utilizes talent from a mix of professional musicians and men incarcerated at Walker. After the world premiere onsite at the prison, a public performance will occur at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre on January 10, 2023, at 7:30 PM.

Tickets to the public performance are on sale now: Click Here

Co-written with the men currently serving out their sentences at Walker, "Waters Rising" was brought to life by composer Tim Hinck and librettist Kendra Preston Leonard. Musical ideas were created from collaborative ideas during an improv session with the Walker men and later crafted into the melodies and songs for this opera by Hinck and Leonard. The story is one of transformation from darkness to light based on the ideas and feedback from the prisoners.

Arts Capacity board member and Music Director of the production, Kelly Stultz, conducts rehearsals with participating men on the inside who will be performing in the production.

"Waters Rising" engages the talents of professional musicians and vocalists from Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, and Colorado. Featuring award-winning vocalists Del'Shawn Taylor from Denver and Chattanooga local Darrin James Hassevoort. They will perform at the Walker State Prison world premiere and the following public performance.

Kris Bespalec, Manager of School and Community Programs at the Hunter Museum of American Art, has worked with the men residing at Walker to design and build the set out of cardboard for the mini-opera, also called a "cardboard opera." This medium is used purposefully to symbolize how many inmates across the country feel: as discarded and forgotten by people on the outside. Yet, what they create with cardboard is miraculous. Creating works of art from refuse acknowledges their own personal transformation from men without hope or purpose to men of vision as they create extraordinary works of art from the ordinary.

Items created by the Walker men for this production will be auctioned along with other prisoner-created artwork in a silent auction at the public performance. The proceeds will benefit Arts Capacity's programming.

Arts Capacity is a non-profit committed to helping people in need through the power of art, culture, communication, and live music to cope with challenges and develop the capacity to experience change for good.