Alex Beard helped build Tate Modern, but has never worked in opera or dance. Now he is to take on one of Britain's most prominent arts jobs boss of the Royal Opera House
Alex Beard, deputy director of the Tate, has been announced as the new chief executive of the Royal Opera House, succeeding Tony Hall who will become director general of the BBC next month.
Beard is, just as was Hall a dozen years ago, a surprise appointment to one of the biggest jobs in British cultural life. He has never worked in the performing arts, but has been part of Tate's senior management since 1994 first as director of finance and, for the past decade, as Sir Nicholas Serota's deputy.