tue 03/06/2025

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

Daphne, Scottish Opera, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - Strauss’s translucent hymn to nature

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Natalie Dessay, Philippe Cassard, Milton Court review - flashes of magic

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Rodelinda, The English Concert, Bicket, Saffron Hall review - perfect team helps us stay the long Handel course

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Odyssey: A Heroic Pantomime, Charles Court Opera, Jermyn Street Theatre review - topsy-turvy Homer

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The Dante Project, Royal Ballet review - brave but flawed take on the Divine Comedy returns

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Louise Alder & Friends, Wigmore Hall review - magic carpet rides with soprano, strings and woodwind

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Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni, Royal College of Music review - a modest one-acter overloaded

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Maestro review - the infinite variety of Leonard Bernstein

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Selaocoe, Schimpelsberger, LSO, Ward, Barbican review - force of nature crowns dance jamboree

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Jephtha, Royal Opera review - uncomfortable sacrifice oratorio not seismic enough

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theartsdesk at Wexford Festival Opera - four operas and a recital in one crazy day

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L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Monteverdi Choir, EBS, Sousa, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - Handel at his most magical

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Lugansky, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - so sure in all their ways

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Paris Chapters, Barbier Serrano, Finegan, Ling, Bloomsbury Festival review - beguiling journey around Irishmen abroad

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Un ballo in maschera, Chelsea Opera Group, Cadogan Hall review - Italianate vitality, if not much finesse

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Rice, Ridout, Drake / A Human Document, Oxford International Song Festival review - a cornucopia of song, speech and vision

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Netflix’s new detective-noir is a somewhat cosmopolitan beast. It’s written and directed by an American, Scott Frank, derived from a novel, ...

The Queen of Spades, Garsington Opera review - sonorous glid...

Recent events have prompted the assertion – understandable in Ukraine – that the idea of the Russian soul is a nationalist myth. This production...

Blu-ray: Eclipse

What constitutes a “lost classic”? I guess we can’t say it’s an oxymoron, since we readily accept the concept of “instant classic”? Either way,...

The Ballad of Wallis Island review - the healing power of th...

I think The Ballad of Wallis Island is the best...

Music Reissues Weekly: Pete Shelley - Homosapien, XL-1

Pete Shelley’s departure from Buzzcocks felt abrupt. When he left the...

The Salt Path review - the transformative power of nature

“I can’t move my arms or legs, but apart from that I’m good to go.” Moth (Jason Isaacs) has to be pulled out of the tent in his sleeping bag by...

Elephant, Menier Chocolate Factory review - subtle, humorous...

This charmingly eloquent semi-autobiographical show – which first played at the Bush Theatre in 2022 – tells the story of a girl whose...