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

Oberto, Chelsea Opera Group, Cadogan Hall review - Verdi’s first opera bounces into life

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The Gondoliers, Scottish Opera, Hackney Empire review - G&S con amore

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Jerusalem Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - shock and sophistication in ideally-proportioned Beethoven

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Hodges, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - four UK premieres, from random to abundant

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Rigoletto, Opera North review - Covid shocks, debut pleasures

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Kolesnikov, Tsoy, LSO St Luke’s review - light, air and adventure from two pianos

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Peter Grimes, Royal Opera review - impressive, not quite devastating

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CBSO Chorus, Czech Philharmonic, Bychkov, Barbican review - a mass of life

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Russians and friends play on for Ukraine

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The Telephone / Miss Fortune, Guildhall School review - brilliantly-executed double bill

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The Golden Cockerel, English Touring Opera review - no crowing over this henhouse

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Henry V, Donmar Warehouse review - playing at war

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‘Slava Ukraini!’: Russian musicians worldwide show solidarity

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When We Dead Awaken, The Norwegian Ibsen Company, Coronet Theatre review - living death, dying life

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Rachlin, Oslo PO, Mäkelä, Oslo Konserthus/Perianes, LPO, Berman, RFH review - the best-laid plans…

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Rigoletto, Royal Opera review - second time lucky

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The remarkable The First Family: Live At Winchester Cathedral 1967 represents the first-ever release of a previously...

Monteverdi Choir, ORR, Heras-Casado, St Martin-in-the-Fields...

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