Every opera company has an origin story. Opera Unhinged's begins at Galway Pride, where a chance conversation between two friends set something in motion that neither of them could have predicted.
Rob Partridge and Oran Tobin had known each other for years, but it was at Pride 2024 that the idea first surfaced. Rob had been writing. Oran had been composing. Both were looking for a reason to make something real. By the end of the weekend, they had the outline of an operetta and the beginning of a plan.
What followed was a period of extraordinary creative energy. The King's Shadow was written in bursts, passed between them in cafés and late-night messages. Salon nights were organised on instinct. A small audience became a growing community. By the time they formally launched Opera Unhinged, the work had already begun to find its audience.
The name came later, but the spirit was there from the start: opera that is unafraid, unpretentious, and utterly itself. Opera that belongs to everyone.
Opera Unhinged is now a division of Unhinged, the umbrella arts collective founded by Rob and Oran. The same energy that started at Pride is driving everything they do: new works, new collaborations, and a belief that great art belongs to everyone.