wed 17/09/2025

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

Un ballo in maschera, Chelsea Opera Group, Cadogan Hall review - Italianate vitality, if not much finesse

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Rice, Ridout, Drake / A Human Document, Oxford International Song Festival review - a cornucopia of song, speech and vision

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Iolanthe, English National Opera review - still gorgeous but ever so slightly less funny than before

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Kopatchinskaja, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - dancing on the volcano

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Skride, National Symphony Orchestra, Matheuz, National Concert Hall, Dublin - musical philosophies soar

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Faust, Irish National Opera review - world-class singing turns the musical-dramatic screw

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Fung, RPO, Schwarz, Cadogan Hall review - high style from new cellist and conductor on the block

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Mad Rush, Carol Williams, RFH review - a rainbow of organ colours

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Peter Grimes, English National Opera review - not quite the pity or the truth

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Pygmalion, Old Vic review - zappy wit and emotional intelligence

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Brahms Piano Sonatas, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Wigmore Hall review - when giants meet

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Denk, Danish String Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - metaphysical strings, the piano as chameleon

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Das Rheingold, Royal Opera - knotty, riveting route to destruction

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Prom 60: Gerstein, Berlin RSO, Jurowski review - a master conductor returns with his German band

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Prom 55: Thibaudet, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Nelsons review - old-style showmanship

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Prom 42: Cho, Philharmonia, Rouvali review - inflation offset by sweet oases

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'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
The Producers, Garrick Theatre review - Ve haf vays of makin...

Unexpectedly, there’s a sly reference to James Joyce’s Ulysses interpolated into Act One (in case we hadn’t caught the not...

Appl, Levickis, Wigmore Hall review - fun to the fore in cab...

Concerts at the Wigmore Hall offer many types of pleasure, but not...

Album: The Divine Comedy - Rainy Sunday Afternoon

Neil Hannon has been recording and touring as the Divine Comedy since 1989 and has tried a fair few flavours along the way, from chamber pop to...

Lammermuir Festival 2025, Part 2 review - from the soaringly...

My colleague Boyd Tonkin visited the Lammermuir Festival for the first time this year. His eyes and ears have been opened to its treasures, but...

Frances Wilson: Electric Spark - The Enigma of Muriel Spark...

How do you tell the story of a person’s mind? In the preface to Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark, published this year by...

Blu-ray: The Sons of Great Bear

Westerns had long been popular with German cinema audiences, some of the most successful being early 1960s West German adaptations of novels by...

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues review - comedy rock band f...

That difficult second documentary – or if you will, “rockumentary” – seems to have been especially challenging for...

Tosca, Welsh National Opera review - a great company reduced...

So it’s come to this: WNO’s autumn season reduced to two operas, a Tosca borrowed from Opera North and a revival of their own Candide...

Not Your Superwoman, Bush Theatre review - powerful tribute...

The Bush is likely to continue its fine recent run of hit plays, with this funny, poignant, culturally authentic and beautifully acted two-hander...