wed 03/09/2025

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

Best of 2024: Opera

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The Pirates of Penzance, English National Opera review - fresh energy in clear-sighted G&S

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Giltburg, Bournemouth SO, Wigglesworth, Portsmouth Guildhall review - seemingly effortless élan

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Rigoletto, Irish National Opera / Murrihy, Collins, NCH Dublin review - greatness everywhere

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The Dead, ANU, Landmark Productions, MoLI Dublin review - vital life, love and death in perfect equilibrium

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Kavakos, Philharmonia, Blomstedt, RFH review - a supreme valediction forbidding mourning

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Roman Rabinovich, Wigmore Hall review - full tone in four styles

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The Elixir of Love, English National Opera review - a tale of two halves

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Andrej Power, LSO, Mäkelä, Barbican review - singing, shrieking rites of darkness and light

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The Tales of Hoffmann, Royal Opera review - three-headed monster feels baggier than ever

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Fauré Centenary Concert 5, Wigmore Hall review - a final flight

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Fauré Centenary Concert 1, Wigmore Hall review - Isserlis and friends soar

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theartsdesk at Wexford Festival Opera - let's make three operas

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The Wild Duck, The Norwegian Ibsen Company, Coronet Theatre review - slow burn, devastating climax

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The Turn of the Screw, English National Opera review - Jamesian ambiguities chillingly preserved

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Trouble in Tahiti/A Quiet Place, Linbury Theatre review - top cast plays unhappy families

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