fri 01/08/2025

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

theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2025 - Arvo Pärt at 90 flanked by lightness and warmth

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BBC Proms: McCarthy, Bournemouth SO, Wigglesworth review - spring-heeled variety

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Salome, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - a partnership in a million

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theartsdesk at the Ravenna Festival 2025 - Cervantes, Beethoven and Byron transfigured

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Semele, Royal Opera review - unholy smoke

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Le nozze di Figaro, Glyndebourne review - perceptive humanity in period setting

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Aldeburgh Festival, Weekend 2 review - nine premieres, three young ensembles - and Allan Clayton

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Schubertiade 3 at the Ragged Music Festival, Mile End review - five great musicians keep spirits soaring

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Joyceana around Bloomsday, Dublin review - flawless adaptations of great dramatic writing

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theartsdesk at the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival - musical revelations, nature beyond

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La Straniera, Chelsea Opera Group, Barlow, Cadogan Hall review - diva power saves minor Bellini

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The Queen of Spades, Garsington Opera review - sonorous gliding over a heart of darkness

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Il Trittico, Opéra de Paris review - reordered Puccini works for a phenomenal singing actor

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Batiashvili, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - French and Polish narcotics

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Parsifal, Glyndebourne review - the music flies up, the drama remains below

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Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Wigmore Hall review - too big a splash in complete Ravel

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