5 fun facts about the Lille Opera House

In 1907, the municipality launched a competition for the construction of a new building.

When he entered the competition, architect Louis-Marie Cordonnier was already in charge of the construction of the Chamber of Commerce, in the regionalist style so dear to his heart.

He's a well-known architect, but also a jealous one. He knows that his participation in the competition is not welcome, and that part of the jury would like to see him eliminated.

In the face of this hostility, he secretly submitted two projects, although only one was authorized by the rules. The first, regionalist, betrays his identity despite the anonymity of the competition.

It's one of the last of its kind to be built in France.

Before Edgar P. Jacobs was the illustrator of the European-famous comic strip Blake and Mortimer, he led an intense career as an opera singer, performing all the great roles of the repertoire!

In 1923, with his first prize for excellence in his pocket, he was hired at the Lille Opera by its director, Paul Frady.

In Lille's municipal archives, a photo of him was found in the Opéra de Lille's programs for 1931. He is in stage costume, with cane and top hat, and was part of the Opéra's sedentary troupe at the time.

Unfortunately, Jacobs was not to have a very long career at the Opéra de Lille, as conditions were very strict at the time for foreign artists wishing to sing on French stages, even from Belgium...

The economic crisis of 1929 made programmers cautious, and the Second World War changed the situation overnight.

After the conflict, the lyrical situation did not allow him to continue his solo career, and he preferred to concentrate on comic strips, which he had always done alongside singing.