fri 19/09/2025

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

The Turn of the Screw, English National Opera review - Jamesian ambiguities chillingly preserved

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Trouble in Tahiti/A Quiet Place, Linbury Theatre review - top cast plays unhappy families

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Nobodaddy, Teaċ Daṁsa, Dublin Theatre Festival review - supernatural song and dance odyssey

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Béatrice et Bénédict, Irish National Opera, National Concert Hall, Dublin review - sung and spoken triumph

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Elisabeth Leonskaja, Wigmore Hall review - a universe of sound and emotion in Schubert’s last three sonatas

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Andsnes, London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Gardner, RFH review - total clarity in classic-romantic and prophetic Rachmaninov

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Suor Angelica, English National Opera review - isolated one-acter lacks emotional inscaping

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Eugene Onegin, Royal Opera review - the heart left cold

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Pavel Kolesnikov, Wigmore Hall review - unpredictable magic

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theartsdesk in Bradford - Leeds International Piano Competition 2024 finalists shine in St George's Hall

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Beethoven Sonata Cycle 1, Boris Giltburg, Wigmore Hall review - running the gamut

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LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - singular adventures for a new era

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Prom 68, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Garsington Opera review - eerie beauty sometimes faintly glittering

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Proms 63-65, Choral Day review - from Harris to Handel/Mozart via Alabama, with love

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Prom 62, Mahler's Sixth Symphony, Bavarian RSO, Rattle review - sound over momentum

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Kaos, Netflix review - playing fast and profuse with the Greek myths

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'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
Cho, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - finely-focused stormy w...

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

Dracula, Lyric Hammersmith review - hit-and-miss recasting o...

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...

Album: Robert Plant - Saving Grace

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

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...

Can I get a Witness? review - time to die before you get old

Some time in the not too distant future, there are only two films on offer: Duck Soup, and, if you order the DVD in advance, ...

Reunion, Kiln Theatre review - a stormy night in every sense...

If you ever wanted to know what a mash up of Martin McDonagh and Conor McPherson, stirred (and there’s a lot of stirring in this...

The Lady from the Sea, Bridge Theatre review - flashes of br...

Like the lighting that crackles now and again to indicate an abrupt change of scene or mood, Simon Stone's version of The Lady from...

How to be a Dancer in 72,000 Easy Lessons, Teaċ Daṁsa review...

Anyone who has followed the trajectory of choreographer-director Michael Keegan-Dolan and his West Kerry-based company Teaċ Daṁsa (House of...

Happyend review - the kids are never alright

Perhaps only in Japan might it be thought the height of delinquency for a bunch of schoolkids is to spend the night sneaking back to school,...