sat 20/09/2025

David Nice

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Bio
The classical music and opera editor of theartsdesk, David writes, lectures and broadcasts on music. A former music critic for The Guardian and The Sunday Correspondent, he has made regular appearances on BBC Radio 3, not least in the long-running series Building a Library. He has written short studies on Elgar, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and the history of opera, and is currently working on the second volume of his Prokofiev biography for Yale University Press. He runs two Zoom lecture series, Opera in Depth on Mondays and a symphonies course on Thursdays.

Articles By David Nice

Best of 2023: Classical music concerts

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Best of 2023: Opera

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theartsdesk in Ravenna - Riccardo Muti passes on a lifetime's operatic wisdom

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Michael Powell: a happy time with Bartók’s Bluebeard

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Daphne, Scottish Opera, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - Strauss’s translucent hymn to nature

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Natalie Dessay, Philippe Cassard, Milton Court review - flashes of magic

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Rodelinda, The English Concert, Bicket, Saffron Hall review - perfect team helps us stay the long Handel course

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Odyssey: A Heroic Pantomime, Charles Court Opera, Jermyn Street Theatre review - topsy-turvy Homer

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The Dante Project, Royal Ballet review - brave but flawed take on the Divine Comedy returns

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Louise Alder & Friends, Wigmore Hall review - magic carpet rides with soprano, strings and woodwind

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Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni, Royal College of Music review - a modest one-acter overloaded

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Maestro review - the infinite variety of Leonard Bernstein

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Selaocoe, Schimpelsberger, LSO, Ward, Barbican review - force of nature crowns dance jamboree

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Jephtha, Royal Opera review - uncomfortable sacrifice oratorio not seismic enough

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theartsdesk at Wexford Festival Opera - four operas and a recital in one crazy day

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L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Monteverdi Choir, EBS, Sousa, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - Handel at his most magical

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