wed 06/08/2025

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

Violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing: 'in the moments when magic happens, you think, that's why we do this'

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4.48 Psychosis, Royal Opera, Lyric Hammersmith review - despairing truth in song and speech

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DVD/Blu-ray: The Touch

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LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - incandescent swansongs by Mahler and Tippett

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DVD/Blu-ray: Bergman's The Magic Flute

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Andsnes, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - dazzling symphonic contrasts, plus oddities

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theartsdesk in Bremen: 150 years of A German Requiem

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The Moderate Soprano, Duke of York's Theatre review - love and opera with a flinty edge

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Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Royal Opera review - bleak rigour and black comedy still cast a spell

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Robin Ticciati on conducting Brahms: 'trying to understand the man through his music'

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Bernstein's MASS, RFH review - polymorphousness in excelsis

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Coraline, Royal Opera, Barbican review - spooky story, underwhelming score

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Manon, Royal Ballet review - glitter and betray

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theartsdesk at the Lucerne Easter Festival: Haitink, Schiff and an alternative Passion

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Gerhardt, RPO, Payare, RFH review - personality muted by faceless conducting

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La traviata, English National Opera review - into a vortex of ineptitude

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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...

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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...

Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: Lost Lear / Consumed

Lost Lear, Traverse Theatre ...

Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews - Alison Spittle / Christopher...

Alison Spittle, Monkey Barrel ★★★

Alison Spittle is fat, she tells us at the top of the show. But not as...