Nathan Hall and The Opera Unbound

Nathan Hall and the Opera Unbound is a Denver-based experimental composer with adventurous and contemporary musical ideas. So, he wanted to create something different and untraditional and challenge people’s concepts of classic music genres like opera.

Nathan figured a way to write a modern Opera based on the lifestyles that are not mainstream. He wanted to do something with contemporary relevance and modern. He came up with the concept of a queer/kink opera about the art of Shibari and Rope Bondage. That’s how the Opera Unbound began to take shape in his mind.

Nathan wrote the basic idea of the opera on an airplane, while he was flying back to Denver from Sweden. Then, everything began to take shape. Nathan also wanted to incorporate Denver’s artworks. Consequently, he joined with Studio Friction, who immediately became engaged with the project. The mission to elevate shibari as an art form became a mutual project.

One of Studio Friction’s founders gave a presentation to all the staff and singers, and they were convinced that The Opera Unbound would be an amazing presentation. The Opera Unbound is an hour-long show focusing on the experience of a lead character that enters a fetish club wanting to have a fantasy experience but that’s not sure what would be. He meets the co-lead who recommends a bondage experience. In the opera, there is some discussion about consent and the rules of the game and they end up sharing a connection, no one has to die in the opera.

The Opera Unbound is a show for adults only, where music lovers, adventurous opera fans, fetish and kink lovers, Shibari practitioners, and the regular community will experience a different kind of opera which blends classical singing, theater, and bondage.

Image: Nathan Hall and The Opera Unbound