March 28 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin university is preparing to stage a musical performance in a unique venue -- underwater.

Lawrence University announced Breathe: A Multi-disciplinary Water Opera will be performed in and around the water at the pool in the school's wellness center in Appleton.


The unusual performance will feature dancers, percussionists, singers, trumpets, a flute, a cello, a keyboardist and a bass player.

"When we normally consider the arts, we put it on a stage, and we sit, and there it is, But here the audience is going to interact in a much different way," composer and musical director Loren Kiyoshi Dempster told WFRV-TV.

Dempster said he was initially skeptical when he was approached about the project by creator and choreographer Gabriel Forestieri, but some experiments had surprising results.

"Eventually I just tried dunking a very, very cheap cello -- for those who are instrumentalists, it's not a very nice one -- but I tried it, and it actually worked. It's been kind of one of the great surprises of my life that you could play cello underwater," he told WLUK-TV.

The show is scheduled for performances at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.