tue 29/07/2025

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

Maestro review - the infinite variety of Leonard Bernstein

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

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

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

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

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

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Paris Chapters, Barbier Serrano, Finegan, Ling, Bloomsbury Festival review - beguiling journey around Irishmen abroad

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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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