wed 04/06/2025

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

The Cunning Little Vixen, Opera Holland Park review - imagine the forest, enjoy the music-making

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Wonderful Town, Quick Fantastic, Opera Holland Park review - everybody's swinging it

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A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Grange Festival review - heroic comedy in hard times

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Tenebrae, Short, Saffron Hall review - from dark shadows to bright heavens

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BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2021 Final, BBC Four review – an embarrassment of vocal riches

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Ivan the Terrible, Grange Park Opera review - from tsar to Stalin in five lopsided scenes

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Happy Days, Riverside Studios review - memory, madness and melancholy

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Der Rosenkavalier, Garsington Opera review - musical marvels, drama less often fulfilled

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Matthews, LPO, Ticciati, Glyndebourne review - out of this world

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Uchida, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - Bach to the future

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Eugene Onegin, Garsington Opera review - choral and orchestral opulence for Tchaikovsky

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Bronfman, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review – celebration around C major

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Swan Lake, LPO, Jurowski, Marquee TV review - full Tchaikovsky score perfectly paced

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Wigmore Hall at Portman Square / Wang, LSO, Tilson Thomas, LSO St Luke's review - al fresco chamber, full orchestra indoors

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Ragged Music Festival 2021, Ragged School Museum review - harrowing of hell from great musicians

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Káťa Kabanová, Glyndebourne review - a misalliance of metatheatre and the mundane

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

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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...

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In 2012, the award-winning American writer Sarah Ruhl met a Yale playwriting student who became a special part of her life. Out of...

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Album: Death In Vegas - Death Mask

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away called the late 1990s,...

La Straniera, Chelsea Opera Group, Barlow, Cadogan Hall revi...

Chelsea Opera Group has made its own luck in winning the devotion of two great bel canto exponents: Nelly Miricioiu between 1998 and 2010...

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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...