fri 20/06/2025

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

Philharmonia, Hrůša, RFH review - total brilliance in Bartók, Dvořák and Strauss

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Tannhäuser, Royal Opera review - true goodness triumphs in the end

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Leonskaja, Staatskapelle Streichquartett, Wigmore Hall / Secret Byrd, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - genuine versus theatrical

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Jansen, LSO, Noseda, Barbican review - hearts of darkness

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Castalian String Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - genius in works and performance

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Lowe, The Mozartists, Page, Wigmore Hall - an education, not quite a triumph

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Least Like the Other, Irish National Opera, Linbury Theatre review - the harrowing of Rosemary Kennedy

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Faust, Tamestit, EBS, Gardiner, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - countless shades of brilliant

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Katya Kabanova, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - living every bar of Janáček’s tragedy

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National Youth Orchestra, Bloch, Barbican review - blazing and surging odysseys

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Jaan Kross: A Book of Falsehoods review - plague, power and deception in 16th century Tallinn

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Best of 2022: Classical music concerts

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Best of 2022: Opera

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theartsdesk in Brno - a visionary at home in his ‘Moravian Bayreuth’

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Pavel Kolesnikov, Wigmore Hall review - conjuring spirits from solstitial darkness

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Bach Christmas Oratorio, Monteverdi Choir, EBS, Gardiner, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - soul-piercing song and dance

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