sat 07/06/2025

David Nice

David Nice's picture
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

Ozark, Series 4 Part 1, Netflix review - the Macbeths of the southern lakes in even deeper waters

Read more...

Total Immersion: Music for the End of Time review - miracles from the house of the dead

Read more...

Lise Davidsen, Leif Ove Andsnes, Barbican review - perfect Grieg, impressive Strauss and Wagner

Read more...

Don't Look Up, Netflix review - hitting most targets in high style

Read more...

Force Majeure, Donmar Warehouse review - fissures in a marriage

Read more...

Le nozze di Figaro, Royal Opera review - New Year champagne

Read more...

Best of 2021: Classical music concerts

Read more...

Best of 2021: Opera

Read more...

The Hand of God review - Sorrentino's unsentimental education

Read more...

Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre review – polymorphous, prodigious

Read more...

L’Enfance du Christ, Monteverdi Choir, ORR, Gardiner, St Martin-in-the-Fields review – clear-cut Christmas story

Read more...

Zingari/Tosca Suite, Opera Rara, Rizzi, Cadogan Hall review - symphonic mastery and fluent hokum

Read more...

Scenes from the Wild, Morgan, CLS, Paterson, Southwark Cathedral review - a cornucopia of the seasons

Read more...

Kolesnikov, Sinfonia of London, Wilson, Snape Maltings review – volcanic Britten and Vaughan Williams

Read more...

The Valkyrie, English National Opera review - fitfully flickering flames

Read more...

Smetana Trio, Wigmore Hall / Minerva Piano Trio, Christ Church Kensington review - spirits of delight

Read more...

Pages

latest in today

Help to give theartsdesk a future!

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some...

Ballerina review - hollow point

John Wick’s simple story of a man and his dog became a bonkers, baroque franchise in record time, converting Keanu Reeves’ limited acting into Zen...

Caroline, Islington Assembly Hall review - south London octe...

In 2022 I called caroline “perhaps the best band in the U.K” in my article about their debut, which I named my album of the year....

theartsdesk in Fes - world music central

With WOMAD not happening this year, where could one go for a feast of...

Songhoy Blues, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - West A...

No-one needs to be living in Trump’s USA to be aware that governments never feel that it’s in their interest to prioritise great art and music...

Album: Pulp - More

While the Gallagher brothers scrabble around in the dirt for their rich pickings, an altogether more...

Goebbels and the Führer review - behind the scenes from the...

“Do you know the name of the propaganda minister of England, or America, or even Stalin? No. But Joseph Goebbels? Everyone knows him.” The cynical...

Album: Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH

Turnstile’s NEVER ENOUGH is a vibrant, shape-shifting album that proves the Baltimore-based band is fully committed to evolution. Since...

Fiddler on the Roof, Barbican review - lean, muscular delive...

It’s always a risk when a production changes venue. In the curious alchemy of live performance, no-one can be sure whether a shift in surroundings...