thu 10/07/2025

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

Prom 42, Lisiecki, BBC Scottish SO, Dausgaard review - concerto partnership made in heaven

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theartsdesk at the Kilkenny Arts Festival 2022 - a safe space to reflect on horrors

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Prom 39, Hartwig, BBCSO, Oramo review - bright and breezy followed by a curate's egg

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La Voix humaine/Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Glyndebourne review - phantasmagorical wonders

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Prom 35, Wang, Oslo Philharmonic, Mäkelä review - crystalline fantasy and levitational brilliance

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theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2022 - conductors from 15 to 85, and the greatest players

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Prom 2, Walker, Sinfonia of London, Wilson review - sensuousness and subtlety in excelsis

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Prom 1, Verdi's Requiem, BBCSO, Oramo review - introspective sorrow and consolation between the blazes

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theartsdesk at the Ravenna Festival 2022 - body and soul in perfect balance

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The Turn of the Screw, Garsington Opera review - terrors and tragedy

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theartsdesk at the East Neuk Festival 2022 - on Cloud Nine for five days of the greatest music-making

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Così fan tutte, Royal Opera review - vibrant youth and vocal beauty

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theartsdesk in Zurich - forging a brilliant new Ring

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theartsdesk Q&A: bass-baritone Christopher Purves on communicating everything from Handel to George Benjamin

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George Fu, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - high intellect and visceral shocks

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Violet, Music Theatre Wales/Britten-Pears Arts review - well sung and played, but to what end?

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