New Chief of Royal Opera Is a Manager, Not an Artist

LONDONâ€"When it was announced in November that Tony Hall, the chief executive of the Royal Opera House, would leave in April to run the BBC, speculation about who would replace him was immediately rife. Mr. Hall is a hard act to follow. In the 12 years that he has run the opera house, he has transformed it from an institution beset by a succession of artistic directors, funding problems and a reputation for elitest money-wasting, to a model of balanced budgets, expanded access and artistic stability.

Who might follow in his footsteps Various names were suggested. Ruth Mackenzie, who had run the Scottish Opera and worked with Mr. Hall on the cultural Olympiad during the Olympics last year, was considered a strong contender. Nicholas Kenyon, the managing director of the Barbican Center, Jude Kelly, the artistic director of the Southbank Center, and Alistair Spalding, the chief executive and artistic director of Sadler’s Wells, were all discussed as strong possibilities.

But this week, the Royal Opera House announced their choice, and it was none of the above. The new chief executive of the venerable institution is Alex Beard, the deputy director of Tate (the collective name for the four Tate museums in the U.K.), whose background is not in the performing arts.

The media reaction was one of polite surprise.

“Five stars for unpredictability anyway,” wrote Richard Morrison in “The Times,” echoed by Rupert Christiansen in “The Telegraph.” “A bolt from the blue: I was wrong in my predictions, and all I can say in my defense is that all the other pundits were wrong, too,” he wrote.

“His lack of experience in the performing arts may raise eyebrows in the opera and ballet worlds,” wrote Charlotte Higgins carefully in The Guardian.

But both Mr. Christiansen and Ms. Higgins, in detailed analyses of the pros and cons of Mr. Beard’s appointment, made the point that the job doesn’t really require creativity or a background in opera and ballet. “What it does demand,” wrote Mr. Christiansen, is “someone with steely nerve, well-oiled diplomatic skills and an eye for a balance sheet, as well as someone who understands the complexity of the fundraising climate and the Royal Opera House’s sensitive public image.”

What seems clear, wrote Ms. Higgins, “is that the trustees of the Royal Opera House, led by chair Simon Robey, have opted to appoint an experienced administrator to support, rather than supplant, the artistic plans of its music director Sir Antonio Pappano, head of opera Kasper Holten and head of ballet Kevin O’Hare.”

Some were more enthusiastic. “Mr Beard will be seen as having the strategic management experience for one of Britain’s most prestigious arts posts, combined with a genuine personal passion for opera,” wrote Louise Jury in The Evening Standard.

Mr. Beard “brings a rare mix of financial and cultural acumen to his new role at the Opera House,” suggested Opera Now magazine suggested that adding that his business experience, financial skills and links to the Arts Council (which decides upon levels of state funding to institutions) would be “especially valuable at a time when the Royal Opera House’s annual grant has been cut by more than 6 per cent.”

But Mr. Christiansen sounded a cautionary note. “What always gives cause for concern when appointments such as these are made outside the mainstream is the steepness of the learning curve,” he wrote. “The Royal Opera House is a Byzantine organization, with a working culture quite unlike that of Tate. Mounting a nightly performance is nothing like mounting an exhibition: the imponderables are quite different, and the process pitted with potholes.”

On Twitter, the atmosphere was more tolerant. “Loving all the music journos that are embarrassed that Alex Beard hasn’ t got a music/performance background,” tweeted @OperaCreep. “How narrow-minded is that”