fri 07/11/2025

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 Consul, Guildhall School review - blowsy melodrama rooted by committed students

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Soltani, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Barenboim, RFH review - passionate pilgrimages

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October, LSO, Strobel, Barbican review - Eisenstein with steel score

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Crowe, The English Concert, Bicket, Milton Court review - Mozartian prima-donna perfection

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The Lady from the Sea, Donmar Warehouse review - Nikki Amuka-Bird luminous in a sympathetic ensemble

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Uchida, SCO, Ticciati, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - Berlioz steals the show

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Osud/Trouble in Tahiti, Opera North - swings and roundabouts in a surprising double-bill

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Alan Hollinghurst: The Sparsholt Affair - pictures at an exhibition, with telling gaps

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Opera: Passion, Power and Politics, V&A review - seven cities, seven masterpieces

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Roman Rabinovich, Hatchlands review - poetry from Chopin's very own Pleyel piano

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Anne Schwanewilms, Charles Spencer, Wigmore Hall review - going deep in Schubert

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Santtu-Matias Rouvali on conducting in Gothenburg - 'they just want to make music. No bullshit'

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After the Rehearsal/Persona, Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Barbican - van Hove reconfigures Bergman

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Kuusisto, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - Icelanders fare better than Sibelius

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Pogostkina, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican review - human emotions in Sibelius's heaven

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Oedipe, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - Enescu's masterpiece glorious and complete

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“Rebellion begins with a breath,” an opening aphorism declares in this first film recounting Palestine’s 1936-39 Arab Revolt, long historically...

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Ash (Riz Ahmed) is one of cinema’s capable men, the kind of monastically devoted pro made to be a hitman or getaway driver. David Fincher’s ...