Opéra de Nice, Opera house in Nice, France

The Opéra de Nice is a lyric theatre on the corner of rue Saint-François-de-Paule and quai des États-Unis, with two main facades. The north entrance front has a wide triangular pediment above six circular medallions, rows of tall windows with pale green shutters, and a dark band with gold lettering. The south facade has two rounded pediments topped with sculpted figures, four statues on the cornice, and the inscription "OPERA MUNICIPAL". Inside, the horseshoe-shaped hall measures 19 by 23 metres and seats 1,083.

A wooden theatre built in 1776 by Marquess Alli-Maccarani was rebuilt as the Théâtre Royal in 1826 under King Charles Félix, then destroyed by fire on 23 March 1881 during a performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. The city rebuilt it to plans by François Aune, approved by Charles Garnier, and it reopened on 7 February 1885 with Verdi's Aida.

The house keeps a resident choir, the Ballet Nice Méditerranée and the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, and its productions have long favoured new music: it gave the French premiere of Lohengrin in 1881 and of L'Or du Rhin in 1902. In 2025 it commissioned Yann Robin's Hymne à l'océan, first sung on 7 June 2025 before the UN Ocean Conference in Nice.

The public entrance is at 4-9 rue Saint-François-de-Paule, on the north facade; the south side faces the quai des États-Unis. The house seats 1,083, so seats in the horseshoe-shaped hall are close to the stage. The building is a classified monument since 1992, and the Diacosmie workshop handles sets and costumes.

The main hall's ceiling fresco by Emmanuel Costa shows Phaëton, son of Apollo, driving the sun chariot across a mythological sky. Costa also painted the four panels of the Nine Muses in the grand foyer. The hall measures 19 metres wide by 23 metres long.