tue 23/09/2025

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

Uchida, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - Bach to the future

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Eugene Onegin, Garsington Opera review - choral and orchestral opulence for Tchaikovsky

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Bronfman, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review – celebration around C major

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Swan Lake, LPO, Jurowski, Marquee TV review - full Tchaikovsky score perfectly paced

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Wigmore Hall at Portman Square / Wang, LSO, Tilson Thomas, LSO St Luke's review - al fresco chamber, full orchestra indoors

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Ragged Music Festival 2021, Ragged School Museum review - harrowing of hell from great musicians

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Káťa Kabanová, Glyndebourne review - a misalliance of metatheatre and the mundane

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Sean Shibe, Wigmore Hall review - a bewitching hour

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LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - songs and dances in a room with an audience

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La clemenza di Tito, Royal Opera review - light and dark in near-perfect balance

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Christa Ludwig, 1928-2021: a selective tribute

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BBC Young Musician 2020 Finale, BBC Four review - poise versus extraterrestrial ecstasy

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The Seven Deadly Sins / Mahagonny Songspiel, Royal Opera online - modern morality tales mesh uneasily

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Bach St John Passions from Oxford and Stockholm online review – theatrical drive from Gardiner, interiority under Harding

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theartsdesk Q&A: conductor Klaus Mäkelä

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Der Rosenkavalier, Bavarian State Opera online review - myth-making magic

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