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>From today's PR Newswire: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/baritone-mark-walters-sings-tonight-in-the-world-premiere-of-rappahannock-county-by-ricky-ian-gordon-119681804.html "Baritone Mark Walters Sings Tonight in the World Premiere of Rappahannock County by Ricky Ian Gordon" 'Mark Walters will be seen at the Harrison Opera House this evening in Norfolk, VA in Rappahannock County, a new music theater piece by composer Ricky Ian Gordon. Rappahannock County is a fictional song cycle inspired by diaries, letters, and personal accounts written during the period of the Civil War. The work explores the war's impact on a community of Virginians -- slaves, plantation owners, soldiers, nurses, widows and survivors. The five principal singers play 30 roles and are accompanied by an ensemble of 17 musicians ... 'In the production, Walters plays the roles of topographer Jedediah Hotchkiss, the Reverend Zachariah Springer, a soldier dying of typhoid fever, a deserter facing his execution and a Virginia farmer returning to his destroyed home after the war. On researching his roles, Walters said: "Hotchkiss was a mapmaker for General Stonewall Jackson and is the best documented character that I am playing. I tried to use the information available on him to launch me into the mindset of Ricky's piece. Hotchkiss' maps were crucial in the placement of troops and the military tactics used by Jackson and I was able to find an exhibition of these maps at the Heritage Museum at Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society. Hotchkiss sketched out his maps in colored pencil while riding on horseback by swinging one leg over his saddle and creating a little work area. His most famous map is a beautifully drawn linen map of the Shenandoah Valley and there is also an extremely detailed map of the Rappahannock area featured in the exhibit. I also visited Hotchkiss' gravesite at Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, VA and discovered that he is surrounded by his wife Sara and two daughters, Nellie and Anne. After my trip, I felt closer to the characters I was studying and was ready to dive into rehearsals the next day in Norfolk."'
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