tue 19/08/2025

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

Mahler’s Third Symphony, Philharmonia, Paavo Järvi, RFH review - phosphorescent glow, depths only glimpsed

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The New Electric Ballroom, Gate Theatre, Dublin review - fantasy and memory hauntingly interwoven

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Der Rosenkavalier, Irish National Opera review - world-class delight

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The Walworth Farce, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - dysfunctional Irish myth-making

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Rusalka, Royal Opera review - ravishing sounds, torpid staging

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The Rhinegold, English National Opera review - tacky, edgy, brilliant

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Jerusalem Quartet, Leonskaja, Wigmore Hall review - freedom and rigour in perfect balance

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Boris Giltburg, Wigmore Hall review - tonal beauty trumps subjective romantics

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LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - exhilarating, hilarious mock-heroics

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Dmitri Alexeev, Leighton House review - shadows and light from a master pianist

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DVD: Babylon Berlin, Season Four

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Philharmonia, Hrůša, RFH review - total brilliance in Bartók, Dvořák and Strauss

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Tannhäuser, Royal Opera review - true goodness triumphs in the end

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Leonskaja, Staatskapelle Streichquartett, Wigmore Hall / Secret Byrd, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - genuine versus theatrical

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Jansen, LSO, Noseda, Barbican review - hearts of darkness

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Castalian String Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - genius in works and performance

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