After six years of good and loyal service, Alain Surrans will leave his place as director of Angers Nantes Opéra to Alexandra Lacroix in 2026.
Alexandra Lacroix will take the helm of Angers Nantes Opéra in 2026 – © Pierre Emile Havette
Alexandra Lacroix, founder and artistic director of the MPDA Company, has been appointed to succeed Alain Surrans as director of Angers Nantes Opéra.
She will collaborate with Alain Surrans from the start of the 2024 school year until the end of 2025. This decision was taken unanimously by the Angers Nantes Opéra union committee meeting on June 20 in Nantes. She will take full office on January 1, 2026, the date on which Alain Surrans will retire.
Alain Surrans begins his sixth season as director of Angers Nantes Opéra. – © Benjamin Lachenal
This transition period, covering more than one season, will allow the two directors to work jointly on the opera’s current and future projects. This includes the continuation of the initiatives put in place by Alain Surrans, in particular the 2024 – 2025 season, as well as the development of new artistic projects.
« With the ambition to embody a house of artistic excellence resolutely connected to our society, Alexandra Lacroix anchors her project in the history of opera as much as in its territory, multiplying approaches to reach out to a diverse audience, and ‘part of the dynamic of cooperation that drives the local cultural ecosystem », Indicates Angers Nantes Opéra in a press release.
Trained at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris, Alexandra Lacroix is a regular in the world of opera, having produced several notable shows, including “ The Yellow Princess and other fantasies » (2022), « Perseus » which mix “ Persian Melodies » by Saint-Saëns to the words of Iranian and Afghan refugees (2021), or even “ Ravel, intimate cruise » according to Jean Echenoz (2020).
For his part, Alain Surrans, art historian and musician trained in Lille, has had a career marked by key roles in various cultural institutions. He notably collaborated with Maurice Fleuret at the Ministry of Culture, directed the Lille Festival and the Rennes Opera before joining Angers Nantes Opéra in 2017.
