David Nice
@davidnice.bsky.social
Writer, lecturer, broadcaster, happily bestriding London and Dublin. Classical music/Opera Editor of The Arts Desk, author of seven books including Prokofiev: From Russia to the West (Yale). Running two Zoom courses, one on opera, the other on concert rep.
Ed Gardner knows how to make Elgar move, in more senses than one, where other conductors don't quite get it. Beth Taylor also contralto-magnificent and intensely dramatic in 'Sea Pictures'. Five stars, no doubt about it: a first rate evening @southbankcentre.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Ed Gardner knows how to make Elgar move, in more senses than one, where other conductors don't quite get it. Beth Taylor also contralto-magnificent and intensely dramatic in 'Sea Pictures'. Five stars, no doubt about it: a first rate evening @southbankcentre.bsky.social
Postponed watching the last of the Don Camillo films, only partly set in Russia (in a village on the Don, presumably the Po), because I feared it would be simplistic. But it has the usual balance between right-wing church man and communist mayor. Guareschi set the tone, and the films do him proud.
November 25, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Postponed watching the last of the Don Camillo films, only partly set in Russia (in a village on the Don, presumably the Po), because I feared it would be simplistic. But it has the usual balance between right-wing church man and communist mayor. Guareschi set the tone, and the films do him proud.
Wonderful Liz Watts stepped in with 24 hours' notice to replace Lucy Crowe. She was every inch as splendid in her own way as the other great Brit would have been. Fascinating programme from the Fantasia Orchestra, too. theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
November 24, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Wonderful Liz Watts stepped in with 24 hours' notice to replace Lucy Crowe. She was every inch as splendid in her own way as the other great Brit would have been. Fascinating programme from the Fantasia Orchestra, too. theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
Occasionally clunky, but everyone should see it. Several outstanding performances, compelling faces, great cinematography. I knew little about the British behaving as badly then as Israelis are now. First visit to the Garden Cinema in Covent Garden: superb set-up, going to become a member.
November 22, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Occasionally clunky, but everyone should see it. Several outstanding performances, compelling faces, great cinematography. I knew little about the British behaving as badly then as Israelis are now. First visit to the Garden Cinema in Covent Garden: superb set-up, going to become a member.
Impossible to imagine a better Handel cast, and Christopher Alden's production is one for the ages. The gags just keep on coming, and elegantly. theartsdesk.com/opera/parten...
November 21, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Impossible to imagine a better Handel cast, and Christopher Alden's production is one for the ages. The gags just keep on coming, and elegantly. theartsdesk.com/opera/parten...
3/ Nevertheless nothing will ever beat this. Walking back in the dark along the river and seeing the great edifice from several angles was part of the pleasure. Well done, Lumiere, for guiding the crowds. Quite a feat.
November 19, 2025 at 12:32 PM
3/ Nevertheless nothing will ever beat this. Walking back in the dark along the river and seeing the great edifice from several angles was part of the pleasure. Well done, Lumiere, for guiding the crowds. Quite a feat.
Here's the full list, grim reading now.
November 19, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Here's the full list, grim reading now.
2/ Virtual woods grow in front of the houses in the cathedral close. From here down to the river was all magically handled with connections to nature.
November 19, 2025 at 11:02 AM
2/ Virtual woods grow in front of the houses in the cathedral close. From here down to the river was all magically handled with connections to nature.
One of many happy Zoom Opera in Depth visits, when Jakub Hrůša talked about Smetana's Libuše (five Mondays on it, no less, and more of us than seen here). He couldn't make this term, but I'd love to know what he made of Katie Mitchell's Makropulos - in which only he and the orchestra excelled, IMO
November 18, 2025 at 11:22 AM
One of many happy Zoom Opera in Depth visits, when Jakub Hrůša talked about Smetana's Libuše (five Mondays on it, no less, and more of us than seen here). He couldn't make this term, but I'd love to know what he made of Katie Mitchell's Makropulos - in which only he and the orchestra excelled, IMO
Shall we take a look at this again? Especially No. 6: 'an immigration system based on compassion and dignity'. So how did you become such a monster, Starmer? Mere weakness?
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November 18, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Shall we take a look at this again? Especially No. 6: 'an immigration system based on compassion and dignity'. So how did you become such a monster, Starmer? Mere weakness?
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'
Finally did the Durham Lumiere trail last night, when the rain had finally stopped. Stunning walk from Cathedral down to Prebends Bridge - fabulous soundscape too of eerie voices in the woods - on the other side of which Cedric Le Borgne's carp hovered.
November 16, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Finally did the Durham Lumiere trail last night, when the rain had finally stopped. Stunning walk from Cathedral down to Prebends Bridge - fabulous soundscape too of eerie voices in the woods - on the other side of which Cedric Le Borgne's carp hovered.
6/ The full family. Perhaps my favourite sculpture in situ anywhere.
November 15, 2025 at 11:16 AM
6/ The full family. Perhaps my favourite sculpture in situ anywhere.
5/ Saturday afternoon, looking through one of the three 'Family of Man' figures by Barbara Hepworth on to the Snape marshes. Quite a lot of bird activity including linnet, reed bunting, Arctic tern, white wagtail, curlew (very vocal), swans flying overhead.
November 15, 2025 at 11:12 AM
5/ Saturday afternoon, looking through one of the three 'Family of Man' figures by Barbara Hepworth on to the Snape marshes. Quite a lot of bird activity including linnet, reed bunting, Arctic tern, white wagtail, curlew (very vocal), swans flying overhead.
4/ Last Saturday morning, also a stunner. Would have swum but still not out of the thick of a lethal cold.
November 14, 2025 at 9:08 AM
4/ Last Saturday morning, also a stunner. Would have swum but still not out of the thick of a lethal cold.
3/ Later, at the Red House. Much still in bloom, including dahlias and of course abundant purple-flowering sage.
November 13, 2025 at 5:21 PM
3/ Later, at the Red House. Much still in bloom, including dahlias and of course abundant purple-flowering sage.
2/ Sunday morning. Mists cleared by about 9am.
November 13, 2025 at 5:19 PM
2/ Sunday morning. Mists cleared by about 9am.
Finally got to see this, and it was as harrowing and as superbly performed as everyone said it was. Go. theartsdesk.com/opera/dead-m...
November 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Finally got to see this, and it was as harrowing and as superbly performed as everyone said it was. Go. theartsdesk.com/opera/dead-m...
Aldeburgh Beach, 10pm, Saturday.
November 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Aldeburgh Beach, 10pm, Saturday.
Loved Season 3 of The Diplomat - the way it ditched conventional thriller/spy elements and become, in at least two of the episodes, a conversation piece with fine actors delivering a sharp script: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, Alison Janney (hurrah!), Bradley Whitford and Rory Kinnear especially.
November 3, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Loved Season 3 of The Diplomat - the way it ditched conventional thriller/spy elements and become, in at least two of the episodes, a conversation piece with fine actors delivering a sharp script: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, Alison Janney (hurrah!), Bradley Whitford and Rory Kinnear especially.
What happened to the promises in Starmer's manifesto?
November 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM
What happened to the promises in Starmer's manifesto?
Long walk yesterday afternoon - partly along a busy road, partly the opposite - from Wexford to the Bird Reserve at the Slobs, polder land reclaimed along with a big sea wall in the mid-19th century. The observation tower has telescopes, so we could see the Greenland White-fronted geese, inter alia.
November 1, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Long walk yesterday afternoon - partly along a busy road, partly the opposite - from Wexford to the Bird Reserve at the Slobs, polder land reclaimed along with a big sea wall in the mid-19th century. The observation tower has telescopes, so we could see the Greenland White-fronted geese, inter alia.
2/ Arms, hands and a bit of body, but the heads are gone from a double portrait.
October 31, 2025 at 7:05 PM
2/ Arms, hands and a bit of body, but the heads are gone from a double portrait.
Unhappy Hallowe'en! Here's a nightmare, part of my study destroyed by fire recently, as photographed by @billknight.bsky.social. CDs Adams to Prokofiev look a bit like a Kiefer. Full account here: davidnice.blogspot.com/2025/09/fire...
October 31, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Unhappy Hallowe'en! Here's a nightmare, part of my study destroyed by fire recently, as photographed by @billknight.bsky.social. CDs Adams to Prokofiev look a bit like a Kiefer. Full account here: davidnice.blogspot.com/2025/09/fire...
First night at Wexford Opera Festival, and already a discovery in soprano Lydia Grindatto, who had no problem with the monstrous role of Leonore in 'Le Trouvère', though Verdi's French version spares her the Act Four cabaletta. Three other main roles well sung; Ferrando and production poor.
October 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM
First night at Wexford Opera Festival, and already a discovery in soprano Lydia Grindatto, who had no problem with the monstrous role of Leonore in 'Le Trouvère', though Verdi's French version spares her the Act Four cabaletta. Three other main roles well sung; Ferrando and production poor.
2/ On the way to the swim after heavy downpour, heron in the foreground and late afternoon sunlight on Howth lighthouse.
October 30, 2025 at 10:07 AM
2/ On the way to the swim after heavy downpour, heron in the foreground and late afternoon sunlight on Howth lighthouse.