hinÓperan is an opera company founded as part of Íris Björk Gunnarsdóttir’s project Queerness on the Opera Stage. The idea emerged when she was an undergraduate student at the Iceland University of the Arts and became aware of how little visibility queer experiences and stories have on the operatic stage. She longed to see and perform operas in which queer stories were at the heart of the narrative.

This led to a research project, supported by the Icelandic Student Innovation Fund, in which she explored the representation of queer characters in opera throughout history. The research revealed that there are in fact dozens of operas featuring queer characters and stories, yet these works are rarely performed. Following the research, she wrote her undergraduate thesis on queer women and trans people, and later completed a master’s project in which she performed excerpts from the opera 27.

hinÓperan aims to stage operas that tell the stories of queer people and, in doing so, increase the visibility of queer lives and experiences on the opera stage. The company also seeks to collaborate with queer artists and create a space where their voices can be heard and represented within Icelandic cultural life.