Tate’s Alex Beard becomes new Royal Opera House chief

The Royal Opera House in London has announced the appointment of Alex Beard as its new Chief Executive. After having lost Tony Hall to the BBC there has been a long and thorough search for a worthy replacement.

Beard said,

I'm absolutely delighted to have been appointed Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House. To have the opportunity to build on Tony Hall's achievements and strengthen the Royal Opera House's reputation as one of the world's leading artistic and creative forces is hugely exciting.

Alex Beard is currently Deputy Director at the Tate, but he will assume his duties at the ROH in time for the 2013/14 Season.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Simon Robey, commented,

Alex Beard has a passion for the work we do at the Royal Opera House. He also brings a wealth of managerial experience from his very successful partnership with Nick Serota at Tate, as well as the insights and perspectives that this role has given him.  I am confident he will forge excellent partnerships with our artistic leadership and our executive team, and that they will, together, lead the Opera House to still greater heights.

Beard is 49 and has been at Tate since 1994, and its Deputy Director since 2002. More importantly, he has a passion for music and has been on the board of Glyndebourne since 2008. He was awarded CBE for services to the arts. In the press release there was no mention of his knowledge of ballet.

I'm very proud to be joining a world class team led by Antonio Pappano, Kasper Holten and Kevin O'Hare, together with a superb executive and committed staff across the organisation.

Beard will earn £250,000 a year for the position, with free opera and ballet seats! Tony Hall was on €390,000…

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.