mon 14/07/2025

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

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

Read more...

Best of 2022: Classical music concerts

Read more...

Best of 2022: Opera

Read more...

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

Read more...

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

Read more...

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

Read more...

Don Pasquale, Irish National Opera review - stock comedy shines at close quarters

Read more...

Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - a performance to make the heart beat faster

Read more...

It’s a Wonderful Life, English National Opera review - Capra’s sharp-edged sentiment smothered in endless schmaltz

Read more...

Watts, Williams, The Bach Choir, Philharmonia, Hill, RFH review - Vaughan Williams, from decadence to metaphysics

Read more...

Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, Wigmore Hall review - nine haute cuisine courses, twelve happy musicians

Read more...

Alcina, Royal Opera review - sharp stage magic, mist over the pit

Read more...

The Yeomen of the Guard, English National Opera review - half-good shot at an unusual G&S misalliance

Read more...

Britten Weekend, Snape review - diverse songs to mostly great poetry overshadow a problem opera

Read more...

theartsdesk at Wexford Festival Opera - the bad, the good and the glorious

Read more...

Vaughan Williams Anniversary Concert, Wigmore Hall review - choices, choices

Read more...

Pages

latest in today

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
Sir Brian Clarke (1953-2025) - a personal tribute

Brian Clarke died on 1 July 2025, after a long illness. He was one of the most original British artists of our time – wide-ranging, ground-...

Falstaff, Glyndebourne review - knockabout and nostalgia in...

From the animatronic cat on the bar of the Garter Inn to the rowers’ crew who haul their craft across the stage and the military ranks of “Dig for...

Salome, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - a partnership in a m...

A Salome without the head of John the Baptist is nothing new: several directors have perversely decided they could do without in recent...

Too Much, Netflix - a romcom that's oversexed, and over...

A thirtysomething American woman with wavering self-confidence, a tendency to talk too much and a longing for married bliss with Mr...

Album: Kokoroko - Tuff Times Never Last

This second album from London-based septet Kokoroko welcomes you into its warm embrace with the gorgeous, beatific vocal harmonies of “Never Lost...

Music Reissues Weekly: Beggars Arkive - Gary Numan's 19...

Tubeway Army’s “Are ‘Friends’ Electric” hit the top of the UK single’s chart in the last week of June 1979. It stayed there for four weeks. Its...

Album: Wet Leg - moisturizer

War, pestilence, famine, death. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my fill of them all. So what better time to visit the genuinely sunny uplands...