thu 24/07/2025

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

Edinburgh International Festival 2019: Breaking the Waves, Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures review - great film makes a dodgy opera

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Prom 44: Finley, LSO & Chorus, Orfeó Català, Rattle review - lurid inter-war triptych

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Prom 41: Ghindin, LPO, Jurowski review - perfect sound in a Russian spectacular

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Prom 40: Hough, OAE, Fischer review - pretty royal things

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Prom 37: The Childhood of Christ, Hallé, Pascal/ Prom 38: Bach Cantatas, Solomon's Knot reviews - holy radiance great and small

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theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2019 - super-orchestra, top clarinettists, transcendent strings

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Prom 34: Argerich, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Barenboim review - erratic star, sleek ensemble

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Prom 15: Bavarian RSO, Nézet-Séguin review - perfect Beethoven, nuanced Shostakovich

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Prom 12: Benedetti, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Wigglesworth - adrenalin highs and string sound to die for

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theartsdesk in Dalarna: Rhinegold in a Swedish barn by a lake

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L'Arlesiana, Opera Holland Park review - at last, a rare Italian gem

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War and Peace, Welsh National Opera, Royal Opera House - bold epic weakened by loosely-directed characterisations

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theartsdesk at the Ravenna Festival 2019 - in heaven with Dante's Purgatorio and Estonian rites

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Peter Gynt, National Theatre review - towering protagonist, middle-way production

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Alder, The Mozartists, Page, Wigmore Hall review - a Mozart feast for eyes and ears

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theartsdesk in Treviso - cultural patronage, Italian style

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