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When you meet Rebekkah Hilgraves, the first thing you notice is her confidence. Hilgraves, a soprano, actively performs in numerous operas, solo recitals and as a guest concert artist in venues throughout the United States. She has appeared as soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra and with Orchestra Seattle/Seattle Chamber Singers as well as being a founding member of the women's vocal ensemble, The Sisters. She presents frequent solo recitals in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Buffalo and New York City.

Unless she tells you, you would never guess that this talented, graceful, literate woman of the arts is also a survivor of domestic violence.

"I am the survivor of several kinds of domestic abuse through the course of my life," she said recently in the business office of Haven House, a program providing domestic violence prevention activities and services in Blount and Monroe counties. "The last one was a particularly frightening episode in San Francisco in which I really was in danger of losing my life."

Hilgraves escaped the situation, and in the midst of post-traumatic stress, she began writing a series of poems.

"I was in the throes of post-traumatic stress, and woke up after a fairly profound dream one night and had a writing fit," she recalled. "That's all I can say. It was from God to my hand to the paper and basically nothing in between. I wrote 12 of the 15 poems in one night, beginning at about 2 o'clock in the morning. It was just a spew, it was a waterfall of poetry. The following three were written over two weeks after that in the same kind of frenzy."

That was 11 years ago. Hilgraves tried to find a composer to set her poetry to music but had no luck until she spoke with a former classmate and current colleague, Rob Deemer, who is active as a composer, conductor, educator and advocate for the arts. The result of their collaboration is "Rachel Rising," a unique concert work that will make its world premiere Thursday at Fairview United Methodist Church as a fundraising activity for Haven House and also in observance of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Artistic women

Hilgraves, who moved to Maryville about a year ago, began lending her talents as a Web designer to Haven House through her business, SheTech and Company, which provides marketing, advertising and public relations programs as well as full-scale graphic and Web design. She decided to premiere "Rachel Rising" as part of the fundraising effort because "this is a cause near and dear to my heart," she said.

The event, "Rachel Rising: A Celebration of Women in the Arts," will include the concert as well as an exhibit and sale by female artists from East Tennessee and beyond. The public is invited to view paintings, photography, sculptures, stained glass and metalwork beginning at 6 p.m. before attending the concert at 7 p.m. Hillgraves, Deemer, violinist Lucie Novoveska and a chamber ensemble of musicians from Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Opera and the graduate department of UT School of Music will perform the new composition.

Joani Shaver, executive director of Haven House, said the goal is to have a fine arts event each year in October to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Tentative plans include putting out a call to composers to commission a new work for the event, with a prize of some sort going to the winning composer.

Numerous survivors

Shaver said, "It's amazing as I work in this field how many survivors there are. There are hundreds and hundreds of survivors of domestic violence. Hopefully we'll be able to celebrate their survival and build awareness that this is not a problem 'everywhere else' -- it's a problem here, too."

That woman can be your sister, your daughter, your aunt, your friend, your neighbor, your coworker. It can be the person you least expect, Hilgraves said.

"One of the questions that was put to me after I got out of that situation was, 'How could you let this happen to you? You're a smart person.' Well, yes, I am. I am a very smart person," Hilgraves said. "And it can happen to anybody. If (the abuser) knows how to push the right buttons, if they know how to get you in just the right way, it doesn't matter how smart you are, how well-educated you are, what kind of family you come from. It does not matter. Victims are everywhere."

Shaver said the abuse crosses every boundary: socio-economic, racial, educational.

"The hardest is for women who are not typically classed as victims," Shaver said. "They are successful in their work, they are well-educated and they don't see themselves as victims. There are a lot of women out there who are victimized every day in our community who have no resources. They have no support system because they don't fit the stereotype. They are the ones we'd really like to reach with this concert. We'd like to let them know there are resources."

For more information about Haven House or "Rachel Rising," call the Haven House business office at 983-6818 or visit www.havenhousetn.org.