sun 20/04/2025

David Nice

David Nice's picture
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

Douglas, Estonian NSO, Elts, Cadogan Hall review - perfect ebb and flow from conductor and pianist

Read more...

theartsdesk at the Sheffield Chamber Music Festival - romps and meditations at the highest level

Read more...

Wozzeck, Royal Opera review - orchestral and visual beauty salve human misery at its most extreme

Read more...

Pavel Kolesnikov, Samson Tsoy, QEH review - piano magicians conduct themselves beautifully

Read more...

Ghosts, Abbey Theatre, Dublin review - creating tension from desolation

Read more...

Bartlett, National Symphony Orchestra, Weilerstein, National Concert Hall, Dublin review - edgy darkness, blazing light and high camp

Read more...

Castalian String Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - late Britten keeps equally demanding company

Read more...

LPO, Jurowski, RFH / LSO, BBC Singers, Rattle, Barbican review - spiderwebs, sublimity and a powerful speech

Read more...

Blue, English National Opera review - the company’s boldest vindication yet?

Read more...

Innocence, Royal Opera review - timely, layered drama with almost incidental music

Read more...

National Youth Orchestra, Gourlay, RFH review - non-stop jamboree at the highest level

Read more...

Life is a Dream, Cheek by Jowl, Barbican Theatre review - savouring the Spanish of a singular masterpiece

Read more...

Belcea Quartet, Chamayou, Wigmore Hall review - romantic winged beast soars over neobaroque chameleon

Read more...

Tenebrae, Short, St John’s Smith Square review - Bach and MacMillan soulfully joined, until the end

Read more...

Messiah, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, Wigmore Hall review - wonderful, easy, light and dark in perfect poise

Read more...

Williams, Dunedin Consort, Truscott, Wigmore Hall review - star soprano, total teamwork

Read more...

Pages

latest in today

Help to give theartsdesk a future!

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some...

Music Reissues Weekly: 1001 Est Crémazie

It would have been hard to pick up a copy of the album credited to and titled 1001 Est Crémazie in...

Bach St John Passion, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Ba...

In a programme note for the St John Passion at the Barbican, the Academy of Ancient Music’s chief executive called their Easter performances of...

MacMillan St John Passion, Boylan, National Symphony Orchest...

Never make your mind up too soon about any large-scale work by a genius. Back in 2010, I had my doubts about James MacMillan’s first Passion,...

Neil Young: Coastal review - the old campaigner gets back on...

As well as generating a ceaseless stream of albums, whether live, studio or culled from his copious archives, Neil Young has also amassed a fairly...

First Person: St John's College choral conductor Christ...

When I arrived at St John’s College, Cambridge, in April 2023, it was a daunting prospect to be taking over the reins of a choir with such a...

Album: Maria Somerville - Luster

Luster’s fifth track “Halo” has the lyric “mystical creatures… of Éirne,” referencing the Irish river and lough of the same name – both...

The Penguin Lessons review - Steve Coogan and his flippered...

As if penguins didn’t have enough to fret about with impending tariffs on exporting guano to America, here comes Steve Coogan to ruffle their...

Ghosts, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre - turns out, they do fuck...

A single sofa is all we have on stage to attract our eye - the signifier of intimate family evenings, chummy breakfast TV and,...