sat 30/08/2025

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

theartsdesk in Gothenburg: concert-hall storytelling rivets at the Point Music Festival

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The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare's Globe review - a gallimaufry of acting styles

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Phaedra, Linbury Theatre review - from confusing passion to blazing afterlife

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theartsdesk in Tallinn and Tartu: Estonian Music Days go global

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LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - inner magic eventually joins outward mastery

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Semele, Monteverdi Choir, EBS, Gardiner, Alexandra Palace review - Handel's cornucopia lavishly served

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Bronfman, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - weight and wit

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Mitten wir im Leben sind, De Keersmaeker, Queyras, Rosas, Sadler's Wells review - Bach-worthy genius

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Billy Budd, Royal Opera review - Britten's drama of good and evil too much at sea

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SS Mendi: Dancing the Death Drill, Isango Ensemble, Linbury Theatre - evocative and essential lyric theatre

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Loro review – hedonism must have an end

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Javier Perianes, QEH review - not a Spanish fire-eater but a world-class poet

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Faust, Royal Opera review - fusty Gounod still dances

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Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel, English National Opera review - powerful ensemble, wrong subject

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Berenice, Royal Opera/London Handel Festival review - luminous shenanigans in the Linbury

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La forza del destino, Royal Opera review - generous voices, dramatic voids

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