fri 19/09/2025

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

Watts, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Bignamini, Barbican review - blazing French masterpieces

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Machinal, The Old Vic review - note-perfect pity and terror

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Bell, Perahia, ASMF Chamber Ensemble, Wigmore Hall review - joy in teamwork

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Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Philharmonia Chorus, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - poetic cello, blazing chorus

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Daphnis et Chloé, Tenebrae, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - lighting up Ravel’s ‘choreographic symphony’

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Goldscheider, Spence, Britten Sinfonia, Milton Court review - heroic evening songs and a jolly horn ramble

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Gilliver, LSO, Roth, Barbican review - the future is bright

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Carmen, Royal Opera review - strong women, no sexual chemistry and little stage focus

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RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World Season 2, BBC Three review - fun, friendship and big talents

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Bach St John Passion, Dublin Bach Singers, Marlborough Baroque Orchestra, Murphy, St Ann's Church, Dublin - choral fire

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WAKE, National Stadium, Dublin review - a rainbow river of dance, song, and so much else

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Salome, Irish National Opera review - imaginatively charted journey to the abyss

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Esther, London Handel Festival, St George’s Hanover Square review - a lopsided celebratory oratorio

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Jenůfa, English National Opera review - searing new cast in precise revival

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Giant, Linbury Theatre review - a vision fully realised

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Murray, Vlaams Radiokor, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - visual ‘interpretation’ blunts sonic brilliance in Szymanowski rarity

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'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
Cho, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - finely-focused stormy w...

It was a hefty evening, as it needn't necessarily have been throughout, since Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony can conceal more darkness between the...

The Code, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - superbly cas...

Hot on the heels of Goodnight, Oscar comes another fictional meeting of real entertainment giants in Los Angeles, this time...

Can I get a Witness? review - time to die before you get old

Some time in the not too distant future, there are only two films on offer: Duck Soup, and, if you order the DVD in advance, ...

Reunion, Kiln Theatre review - a stormy night in every sense...

If you ever wanted to know what a mash up of Martin McDonagh and Conor McPherson, stirred (and there’s a lot of stirring in this...

The Lady from the Sea, Bridge Theatre review - flashes of br...

Like the lighting that crackles now and again to indicate an abrupt change of scene or mood, Simon Stone's version of The Lady from...

How to be a Dancer in 72,000 Easy Lessons, Teaċ Daṁsa review...

Anyone who has followed the trajectory of choreographer-director Michael Keegan-Dolan and his West Kerry-based company Teaċ Daṁsa (House of...

Happyend review - the kids are never alright

Perhaps only in Japan might it be thought the height of delinquency for a bunch of schoolkids is to spend the night sneaking back to school,...

Romans: A Novel, Almeida Theatre review - a uniquely extraor...

OMG! I mean OMG doubled!! This is amazing! Or is it? Can Alice Birch’s Romans: A Novel at the...

Album: Biffy Clyro - Futique

For the trio of Biffy Clyro, the years since their previous album, 2021’s The Myth Of The Happily...