fri 19/09/2025

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

Best of 2023: Opera

Read more...

theartsdesk in Ravenna - Riccardo Muti passes on a lifetime's operatic wisdom

Read more...

Michael Powell: a happy time with Bartók’s Bluebeard

Read more...

Daphne, Scottish Opera, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - Strauss’s translucent hymn to nature

Read more...

Natalie Dessay, Philippe Cassard, Milton Court review - flashes of magic

Read more...

Rodelinda, The English Concert, Bicket, Saffron Hall review - perfect team helps us stay the long Handel course

Read more...

Odyssey: A Heroic Pantomime, Charles Court Opera, Jermyn Street Theatre review - topsy-turvy Homer

Read more...

The Dante Project, Royal Ballet review - brave but flawed take on the Divine Comedy returns

Read more...

Louise Alder & Friends, Wigmore Hall review - magic carpet rides with soprano, strings and woodwind

Read more...

Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni, Royal College of Music review - a modest one-acter overloaded

Read more...

Maestro review - the infinite variety of Leonard Bernstein

Read more...

Selaocoe, Schimpelsberger, LSO, Ward, Barbican review - force of nature crowns dance jamboree

Read more...

Jephtha, Royal Opera review - uncomfortable sacrifice oratorio not seismic enough

Read more...

theartsdesk at Wexford Festival Opera - four operas and a recital in one crazy day

Read more...

L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Monteverdi Choir, EBS, Sousa, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - Handel at his most magical

Read more...

Lugansky, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - so sure in all their ways

Read more...

Pages

latest in today

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
Cho, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - finely-focused stormy w...

It was a hefty evening, as it needn't necessarily have been throughout, since Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony can conceal more darkness between the...

The Code, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - superbly cas...

Hot on the heels of Goodnight, Oscar comes another fictional meeting of real entertainment giants in Los Angeles, this time...

Can I get a Witness? review - time to die before you get old

Some time in the not too distant future, there are only two films on offer: Duck Soup, and, if you order the DVD in advance, ...

Reunion, Kiln Theatre review - a stormy night in every sense...

If you ever wanted to know what a mash up of Martin McDonagh and Conor McPherson, stirred (and there’s a lot of stirring in this...

The Lady from the Sea, Bridge Theatre review - flashes of br...

Like the lighting that crackles now and again to indicate an abrupt change of scene or mood, Simon Stone's version of The Lady from...

How to be a Dancer in 72,000 Easy Lessons, Teaċ Daṁsa review...

Anyone who has followed the trajectory of choreographer-director Michael Keegan-Dolan and his West Kerry-based company Teaċ Daṁsa (House of...

Happyend review - the kids are never alright

Perhaps only in Japan might it be thought the height of delinquency for a bunch of schoolkids is to spend the night sneaking back to school,...

Romans: A Novel, Almeida Theatre review - a uniquely extraor...

OMG! I mean OMG doubled!! This is amazing! Or is it? Can Alice Birch’s Romans: A Novel at the...

Album: Biffy Clyro - Futique

For the trio of Biffy Clyro, the years since their previous album, 2021’s The Myth Of The Happily...