thu 07/08/2025

David Nice

David Nice's picture
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

The Rake's Progress, Glyndebourne Tour - a classic revitalized

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Die ägyptische Helena, Fulham Opera review - mythological mess impressively handled

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Ridley Road, BBC One review - Jewish community fights Nazi nightmare in 1960s London

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Tamestit, LSO, Ticciati, LSO St Luke's review - viola as chameleon, palpitating Brahms

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Gabriela Montero, Kings Place review - improvising to a Chaplin classic is the icing on a zesty cake

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theartsdesk at the Two Moors Festival - birdsong, gongs and nocturnes in Dartmoor churches

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Philharmonia, Rouvali, RFH review - the really big orchestra is back for cosmic Strauss

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Jenůfa, Royal Opera review - Janáček scours the soul again in a compelling new take

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Carnac, BCMG, Kemp, Music@Malling Festival - lyrical Turnage frames abstruse fancies

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The Midsummer Marriage, LPO, Gardner, RFH review – Tippett’s cornucopia shines in fits and starts

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Our Future in Your Hands, Peckham School Choirs, Multi-Story Orchestra, Stark, Bold Tendencies review - blazing community epic

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Rigoletto, Royal Opera review - routine clouds the best in this season opener

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Proms Festival Orchestra, Wigglesworth, BBC Proms review - brilliant work in progress, perfect Adagietto

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Sheku Kanneh-Mason, RLPO, Hindoyan, BBC Proms review - wood magic and swashbuckling show-offs

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Tristan und Isolde, Glyndebourne, BBC Proms review - endless love, perfect pace

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theartsdesk at the Birgit Nilsson Days - the rich legacy of a farm girl turned diva

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This is a weird one: I do try and stay on top of pop culture, but for several years, Ethel Cain completely passed me by. You’d think I would have...

Weilerstein, NYO2, Payare / Dueñas, Malofeev, Edinburgh Inte...

NYO2 is a group of dazzlingly talented (and terrifyingly young-looking) 14-17 year olds from the USA, one of Carnegie Hall’s three national youth...

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theartsdesk Q&A: filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud on sex, lo...

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Rising temperatures, prickling skin, longing’s all-consuming ache: first love’s swooning symptoms overtake 17-year-old Johanne (Ella Øverbye) in...

Album: Black Honey - Soak

The default setting for Brighton indie quartet Black Honey...

Káťa Kabanová, Glyndebourne review - emotional concentration...

Even more perhaps than straight theatre, opera seems to draw attention to the meaning behind what may on the face of it appear a simple story....

The Count of Monte Cristo, U&Drama review - silly telly...

Alexandre Dumas’ novel has been filmed an immeasurable number of times (there was a new French version only last year) and...