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

Daphnis et Chloé, Tenebrae, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - lighting up Ravel’s ‘choreographic symphony’

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Goldscheider, Spence, Britten Sinfonia, Milton Court review - heroic evening songs and a jolly horn ramble

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Gilliver, LSO, Roth, Barbican review - the future is bright

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Carmen, Royal Opera review - strong women, no sexual chemistry and little stage focus

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RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World Season 2, BBC Three review - fun, friendship and big talents

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Bach St John Passion, Dublin Bach Singers, Marlborough Baroque Orchestra, Murphy, St Ann's Church, Dublin - choral fire

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WAKE, National Stadium, Dublin review - a rainbow river of dance, song, and so much else

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Salome, Irish National Opera review - imaginatively charted journey to the abyss

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Esther, London Handel Festival, St George’s Hanover Square review - a lopsided celebratory oratorio

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Jenůfa, English National Opera review - searing new cast in precise revival

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Giant, Linbury Theatre review - a vision fully realised

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Murray, Vlaams Radiokor, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - visual ‘interpretation’ blunts sonic brilliance in Szymanowski rarity

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The Duchess of Malfi, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse review - the good end badly, but act best

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Gerstein, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - American glitter and sinew

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The Creation, Alder, Clayton, Mofidian, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - dancing gay in green meadows

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St Matthew Passion, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin review - fluency, fire and some jaw-dropping solos

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