The Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur has announced the arrival of Xavier Ribes as choir director. The Franco-Catalan conductor takes up his position this September 2026 after more than twenty years leading the Angers Nantes Opera choir. His career has also taken him to Switzerland, Mexico, and several major opera houses.
A new direction is beginning for the Choir of Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur. Xavier Ribes takes up his duties as choir director in September 2026. Trained in Barcelona and then at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, the Franco-Catalan conductor has built a career between singing, choral direction, teaching, and artistic projects with various audiences.
Before becoming a choir conductor, Xavier Ribes began as a singer in the choir of the Tonhalle in Zurich. His career continued at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, where the musician became a permanent member of the choir. An experience that preceded his arrival in Nantes in 2003.
At Angers Nantes Opera, Xavier Ribes prepared opera productions and concerts for more than twenty years. The conductor also led participatory concerts, with the aim of introducing opera and singing practice to a wider audience. For more than ten years, directing the large choir at the Fête de la Musique in Nantes brought together several thousand participants.
From Catalonia to Nice, a journey between stage and teaching
Born in Mollerussa, Catalonia, Xavier Ribes was drawn to music from an early age. His passion for singing began at the parish in his village before turning to choral direction. At 15, Xavier Ribes was already conducting amateur choirs, driven by his desire to unite people around him.
At 18, Xavier Ribes became choirmaster at the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona. His meeting with musician Jordi Savall encouraged him to continue his training in Switzerland. The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel allowed him to deepen his musical practice.
His time at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva marked an important milestone. Under the direction of Ching-Lien Wu, now choir conductor of the Paris National Opera, Xavier Ribes developed his experience as a conductor. In 2003, it was in Nantes that he began a new chapter in his young career.
Over the years, the conductor has collaborated with several opera houses in France and abroad, including the operas of Paris, Montpellier, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nancy, Tours, Lille, and Luxembourg. Collaborations that were added to participations in the Chorégies d’Orange, the Radio France Festival, La Folle Journée in Nantes, and the International Cervantino Festival in Mexico.
Xavier Ribes also conducted the choir of the Concert d’Astrée in collaboration with Emmanuelle Haïm on baroque productions. Among these projects is Hippolyte et Aricie by Rameau at the Paris National Opera – Palais Garnier.
From 2010 to 2013, the conductor directed the choir of the National Opera of Mexico and the National Chamber Choir. In Mexico City, opera productions and concerts succeeded one another, particularly at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
The new director of the Choir of Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur continues parallel work in teaching. Guest conductor and member of international juries, Xavier Ribes leads master classes in choral conducting and teaches at universities and conservatories in Angers and Nantes.
His commitment also extends beyond musical institutions. Several artistic projects are still being carried out today with people in precarious situations, particularly in prisons and in Madagascar. For the past two years, Xavier Ribes has also been a volunteer chaplain at Nantes prison, where he visits detainees every week.
This approach notably led to a meeting with the homeless choir Au Clair de la Rue. An experience that led to the documentary The Wounded at the Opera, broadcast on France 3 in 2026.
Xavier Ribes thus arrives on the Côte d’Azur with experience built between major opera houses, choral practice, and teaching. Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur indicates that it wishes to open with the new director “a new chapter in the history of its choir”, with attention paid to artistic excellence, creation, and sharing with audiences.
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