mon 22/09/2025

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

Life is a Dream, Cheek by Jowl, Barbican Theatre review - savouring the Spanish of a singular masterpiece

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Belcea Quartet, Chamayou, Wigmore Hall review - romantic winged beast soars over neobaroque chameleon

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Tenebrae, Short, St John’s Smith Square review - Bach and MacMillan soulfully joined, until the end

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Messiah, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, Wigmore Hall review - wonderful, easy, light and dark in perfect poise

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Williams, Dunedin Consort, Truscott, Wigmore Hall review - star soprano, total teamwork

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The Dead City, English National Opera review - strong dream world, weak love story

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Fröst, Philharmonia, Lazarova, Kuusisto, Southbank Centre review - congenial new works complemented by live-wire classics

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Turandot, Royal Opera review - spectacle and sound wow in this significant revival

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Dance of Death, National Theatre of Norway, Coronet Theatre review - straight for the jugular

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Mahler’s Third Symphony, Philharmonia, Paavo Järvi, RFH review - phosphorescent glow, depths only glimpsed

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The New Electric Ballroom, Gate Theatre, Dublin review - fantasy and memory hauntingly interwoven

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Der Rosenkavalier, Irish National Opera review - world-class delight

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The Walworth Farce, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - dysfunctional Irish myth-making

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Rusalka, Royal Opera review - ravishing sounds, torpid staging

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The Rhinegold, English National Opera review - tacky, edgy, brilliant

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Jerusalem Quartet, Leonskaja, Wigmore Hall review - freedom and rigour in perfect balance

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35 years ago, persona-now-non-grata John Eliot Gardiner revealed how performances of Mozart’s Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito...

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If a classic story is going to be told for the umpteenth time, there is a good bet it will come with a novel spin on it. So it proves...

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It was a hefty evening, as it needn't necessarily have been throughout, since Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony can conceal more darkness between the...

Album: Robert Plant - Saving Grace

Robert Plant is magnificently well-equipped to shine as a consummate musical survivor: not only has his voice kept its magic, with a range from...

The Code, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - superbly cas...

Hot on the heels of Goodnight, Oscar comes another fictional meeting of real entertainment giants in Los Angeles, this time...