fri 29/08/2025

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

LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - songs and dances in a room with an audience

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La clemenza di Tito, Royal Opera review - light and dark in near-perfect balance

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Christa Ludwig, 1928-2021: a selective tribute

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BBC Young Musician 2020 Finale, BBC Four review - poise versus extraterrestrial ecstasy

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The Seven Deadly Sins / Mahagonny Songspiel, Royal Opera online - modern morality tales mesh uneasily

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Bach St John Passions from Oxford and Stockholm online review – theatrical drive from Gardiner, interiority under Harding

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theartsdesk Q&A: conductor Klaus Mäkelä

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Der Rosenkavalier, Bavarian State Opera online review - myth-making magic

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Steven Osborne 50th Birthday Concert, Wigmore Hall online – perfect symmetries

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Levit, Berlin Philharmoniker, Paavo Järvi, Digital Concert Hall review - optimal light and dark

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Two LSO concerts on Marquee TV review - vibrant triptyches

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Tony and the Young Artists, Royal Opera/Liebeslieder Waltzes, Blackheath Halls online review - love and joy

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Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer online review - Mahler movements for the fish

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Hansel and Gretel, Scottish Opera online - bewitching feast for ears but not eyes

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The Turn of the Screw, OperaGlass Works online review - the fright is in the filming

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It's a Sin, Channel 4 review - poignant, funny, vibrant masterpiece

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