A community-centered, multimedia production features original music and storytelling in the Columbia River Gorge.
Hood River, OR – Mt. Adams Institute’s Sense of Place series will celebrate 15 years with a landmark event: The Watershed Rock Opera, a multimedia performance that pays homage to the Columbia River Gorge and its communities. Happening April 11–13, 2025, in Hood River, Oregon, this unique production weaves together original music, film, recorded interviews, and theatrical storytelling into a celebration of the region’s landscapes, cultures, and people. More info and tickets to this event are available at mtadamsinstitute.org/watershedrockopera/.
“It’s like a love letter to a place and its people, but with more percussion!”
Told in five movements,The Watershed Rock Opera follows the course of water, moving through the Gorge watershed, to explore the interconnectedness of communities.
“I’d been considering how I might share a variety of different stories in a single setting,” said Sarah Fox, producer of the rock opera and host/curator of the Sense of Place series. “I knew I wanted to have first-person voices, to integrate music and other media, and to have some fun. I eventually landed on the idea of a rock opera, with the watershed as its throughline. And thanks to an incredible team of local musicians, advisors, production staff, and donors, the idea has become a reality.”
A Community-Centered Production
The Watershed Rock Opera has been in production since February 2024 and features original music composed by Gorge local, Erik Kaneda. The live performances will include nearly 20 musicians/performers from the Gorge and each movement draws directly from the expertise and first-person experiences of its advisors/storytellers. Production staff is also Gorge based.
“The greatest rock opera ever produced about a watershed.”
Movement 1 of the rock opera starts in the sky as falling rain. Audiences will hear from a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation on the relevance of water to life. In Movement 2, the rain lands on a snowy mountain top, where a wildlife biologist is tracking a rare, native carnivore that lives nowhere else in the world. In Movement 3 the snow has melted and run down into an orchard, where a 4th generation orchardist shares what it takes to grow a pear. In Movement 4, it’s into a city’s wastewater management system, where a clogged toilet leads to a run-in with a wizard. And finally, in Movement 5, the watershed arrives at the Columbia River, where multiple voices reflect on coming home and connection to place.
“Watersheds are a great reminder of how connected we all are, not just in a physical place, but in the overlap of our experiences. That can be easy to forget these days, but the Sense of Place program has witnessed those connections for the past 15-years and The Watershed Rock Opera truly celebrates what we’ve seen,” shares Fox.
General admission tickets to The Watershed Rock Opera opened on March 4th at: https://events.humanitix.com/watershed-rock-opera
Event Details
Event Info: mtadamsinstitute.org/watershedrockopera/
Performance Dates: April 11, 12, and 13, 2025
Location: Columbia Center for the Arts, 215 Cascade Ave., Hood River, Oregon
General Admission tickets on sale now!
Get Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/watershed-rock-opera/tickets
For more information, visit mtadamsinstitute.org/watershedrockopera/ or follow Sense of Place on Instagram @senseofplacegorge.