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David Nice

@davidnice.bsky.social
4K followers 1.4K following 28K posts

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.

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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Names (fewer then, of course) were also listed on the wall behind this marvellous actor, Sara Agha, in her searing one-person play A Grain of Sand, put on under the aegis of @goodchancetheatre.bsky.social. It needs to be seen everywhere. I caught it in Dublin at the Smock Alley Theatre.
Sara Agha in 'A Grain of Sand'
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
4/ Central avenue with fine angel statuary.
Central avenue of Margravine Cemetery.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
3/ The moon was still clear at that time in the morning.
Moon over Margravine Cemetery, early Saturday morning.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
2/ This is more like it, lightwise: the marvellous arboretum that is Margravine Cemetery, which we properly discovered - other than just walking the main paths - during lockdown. And it was a blessing during the six weeks I walked to Charing Cross Hospital for radiotherapy.
Margravine Cemetery, earlyish in the morning.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Not the greatest of photos, but I was happy to see one of the peregrines who nest on a top ledge of Charing Cross Hospital peering over. Taken from Margravine Cemetery early on Saturday.
Peregrine on top ledge of Charing Cross Hospital.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Visceral Berliner Ensemble adaptation of Oscar Wilde's freefall prison lament, compellingly paced with a to-the-abyss performance by Jens Harzer. @thecoronettheatre.bsky.social is one of the few London venues to bring us the best of international theatre. theartsdesk.com/theatre/de-p...
Jens Harzer in the Berliner Ensemble staging of Wilde's 'De Profundis' at the Coronet Theatre.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
And here's one with Brindley Sherratt's Gurnemanz.
Stanislas de Barbeyrac and Brindley Sherratt in Royal Opera Parsifal
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Didn't have room for this one in the text, but it's also striking.
Stanislas de Barbeyrac and Ekaterina Gubanova in Act 2 of Royal Opera Parsifal
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The grail ceremony is horrid as usual in Evgeny Titov's new Royal Opera production of Wagner's quasi-religious mystery, but Stanislav de Barbeyrac's characterisation and singing of the title role are superb, and Jakub Hrůša seals his reputation as a great Wagnerian. theartsdesk.com/parsifal-roy...
Christian Gerhaher as Amfortas and Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Parsifal in the Royal Opera Parsifal
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
9/ The silver-plated cross of the 10th century abbess Raingarda, brought here and known as the Teodote Cross. Multiple royal coronations took place in the basilica, not least that of Frederick 'Barbarossa'
10th century 'Teodote' cross, church of San Michele Maggiore, Pavia.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
8/ Detail of a capital within the main body of the church
Capital in front of the dome, San Michele Maggiore, Pavia.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
7/ On the outside south wall of the transept, relief of the Annunciation in better nick than most of the statuary on the west front because of different stone.
Annunciation on the outside wall of the south transept, San Michele Maggiore.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
6/ End of south transept, Dormition of the Virgin (12th century) unifying painting, sculpture and architecture. The Lamb within a rainbow roundel gathered up by Christ enriches what remains of the fresco.
Dormition of the Virgin in s transept, San Michele Maggiore, Pavia. All of a piece, 12th century.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
5/ High up in the nave are some characterful corbels - owls, green men, etc.
Corbel figures high up in the nave of San Michele Maggiore, Pavia.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
4/ The capitals inside are rich and numerous. Perhaps the most impressive are in the crypt, because you can see them at eye level.
Romanesque capital in the crypt of San Michele Maggiore, Pavia
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
3/ Mermaid and others.
Detail of arch, west facade of San Michele Maggiore, Pavia
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
2/ Closer look at some of the sculptures on the facade.
Sculptures on the w facade of San Michele Maggiore, Pavia.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Getting randy for antiquity again, so time for a return visit to a second Romanesque glory in Pavia (our landlady's favourite, close to where we were staying): the Basilica of San Michele Maggiore, a Longobard favourite. It's amazing that as much sculpture remains given the soft local sandstone.
West facade of San Michele Maggiore, Pavia
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
2nd Zoom course this term launched yesterday. Set up Monteverdi's L'Orfeo with documentary clip of Oxford classicists' production of Euripides' Orestes inc. amazing music from a great aulista, and to compare openings from Barcelona and Garsington. You can still join and claim videos in absentia.
Flyer for Zoom Opera in Depth course on Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and Mozart's The Magic Flute
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Wonderful range of photographs from Proms snapper par excellence Chris Christodoulou. We've added to the usual gallery of conductors in extremis some lovely backstage shots of other performers, like Jamie Barton and Clay Hilley below. theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
Jamie Barton and Clay Hilley at the Proms
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Britten's War Requiem, a multi-layered masterpiece, always gets to me, especially when the performance is as perfectly paced and controlled as this. theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
After Edward Gardner's performance of Britten's War Requiem in the Royal Festival Hall.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
3/ Surprised, walking into a smallish room off the main long hall of specimens, to see four original animal paintings by George Stubbs. He shared a passion for anatomy with John Hunter. The rhino is famous.
Rhinoceros by George Stubbs in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
2/ but the core of the collection, refurbished and reopened in 2023, features John Hunter's specimen jars. Things of beauty, so many of them. Many more people there than below - must have hit the TikTok/Instagram trail. 200,000 items were lost in WW2 bombing, 2/3rds. but this is still...a lot.
John Hunter's collection in the Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yesterday I launched 10 Thursday Zoom afternoons on Mozart's later works. Officially 1787-1791, but after preliminary snippets, I began in December 1786 with two rich masterpieces - Piano Concerto 25 in C and the so-called 'Prague' Symphony, 38, in D. You can still join and I can send videos.
Flyer for Zoom course on Mozart's later years
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Having finished eight Wednesday Zooms on Lohengrin, I start again on Monday with the autumn's Opera in Depth course, divided between Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and Mozart's The Magic Flute. Special guests promised as usual, and if you can't attend live, you get the video(s). Hope the below is readable.
Flyer for the autumn term's Opera in Depth course on Zoom
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
An overwhelmingly rich and deep four days at the Lammermuir Festival, from Schubert's Winterreise to a Dowland 400th anniversary tribute, and even a world-class cast in an opera (Mozart's Così fan tutte) theartsdesk.com/classical-mu...
Scene from Mozart's Così fan tutte in St Mary's Kirk, Haddington.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
6/ And this is the delightful Claudia Jablonski, whom I encountered on the conducting course at the Pärnu Festival getting dual-control advice from Neeme Järvi in July, giving the final gesture to one of the four groups. 7pm and sunset, and we all went off to get warm.
Claudia Jablonski conducting the final note for one of the four tuba bands in the wackiest experience of the Lammermuir Festival
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
5/ At last the four tuba groups all meet in the middle.
Tubas in the middle of Amisfield Walled Garden at the end of a big event in the Lammermuir Festival
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
4/ The trumpeters in the centre, playing fanfares by other composers to break the Braxton tuba dirges.
Trumpet central in Amisfield Walled Garden.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
3/ One of my own favourites.
Tubas etc in Amisfield Walled Garden as part of the Lammermuir Festival.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
2/ I pop up distantly in this one. It was cold, and so I ended up putting my fluorescent mac on over jacket and jumper etc. Amazing that rain held off and it all lasted the stipulated hour (wjth trumpet fanfares by other composers to relieve the lugubrious, tritone laden repetitions of Braxton).
Part of the hour-long '100 Tubas' event at Amisfield Walled Garden as part of the Lammermuir Festival
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Been absorbed by 4 days of top performances at the Lammermuir Festival. Full report due on @theartsdesk.bsky.social, but meanwhile there was this in the magical community-run Amisfield Walled Garden: ambitious assemblage for Anthony Braxton's Composition No. 19 (For 100 Tubas). Here are just a few.
Assemblage of tubas in Amisfield Walled Garden as part of the 2026 Lammermuir Festival
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
5/ Curious the incorporation of Islamic inlaid ceramic bowls high on the facade. Originally 17, five lost, the rest damaged in the 1988 storm, taken to the City Museum and replaced with copies. Still, this gives you some idea.
Islamic inlaid ceramic bowls on the facade of San PIetro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
4/ The actual case with the remains in an urn inside. The Algerian Berber saint was moved around a bit - the bones brought here from Sardinia in the 8th century.
Remains of St Augustine in casket, San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
3/ Facade of S Pietro, consecrated in 1132.
Facade of S PIetro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia. consecrated in 1132.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
2/ The bigger picture.
Arca di S. Agostino, San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
No doubt the greatest single treasure we saw during our too-short stay in Pavia: detail from the arca or sarcophagus of St Augustine, executed by Lombard sculptors c. 1350, in the very beautiful and peacefully-situated church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro.
Detail from the arca of St Augustine, San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
They're powerless to referee. I did admire Charles for doing the rounds of EU countries because the government wasn't bothering. And there are subtle ways of showing how you feel...
Queen wears blue hat with yellow stars, seemingly a pro-EU statement.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
7/ Last pic for now, a selfie for the 'seven walk between seven churches' theme. The team (not saying who's who) - fabulous group even though we're missing two founder members this year. The church in the distance, reached through a very lovely flowery meadow, is St Michael Broome.
Seven walk between seven churches for the Norfolk Churches Trust.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Happily spent most of the day writing up my surprisingly positive Arena di Verona experience for @theartsdesk.bsky.social. Once was enough, but I'm glad I saw the two Zeffirelli classics. theartsdesk.com/opera/theart...
Zeffirelli's production of Verdi's Aida at the Arena di Verona
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
6/ Fellow walker Fairless surrounded by the last of many Norman arches looking at a notice on the very closed door of St Ethelbert Thurton. It was gone 6pm; we'd been walking since c.10.30am. The nearby pub welcomed us for supper; the Indian chef did the best pakora I've tasted.
Fellow Norfolk Churches Trust walker Fairless looking at the very locked door of our last church, St Ethelbert Thurton.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Sorry, Janey. Here's one of the immortal images from when she grandstanded his Scottish golf course visit.
Janey Godley at the Scottish golf course.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
5/ Landscape with big sky and distant figures (I was seldom that far behind), on the way to Seething.
Landscape with big sky and distant figures, Norfolk Churches Walk 2026
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
4/ Wall paintings and a Seven Sacraments Font - the only one this time, to match our group of seven and seven churches notched up - in St Margaret and St Remigius, Seething.
Seven Sacraments font and wall paintings, St Margaret and St Remigius, Seething, Norfolk.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
3/ One more irresistible detail, a benchend also in St Michael Stockton, one of four Talbot hounds (now extinct), the only one muzzled.
Talbot hound benchend, St Michael Stockton
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
2/ I'll be writing the annual blog chronicle, so saving most pics for that. But here's the approach to No. 2, All Saints Kirby Cane. It was locked, and we had to call up the local squire, who did eventually oblige. Not good on the one day of the year when every Norfolk church needs to be open.
The round tower of All Saints Kirby Cane, and Cedars of Lebanon in the churchyard. Second church on our annual walk for the Norfolk Churches Trust.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This year's walk for the Norfolk Churches Trust was as good as any, despite relatively humble buildings. 7 churches in 10 miles - smaller distances now post-op - inc. round towers, bench ends, wall paintings, fonts. Here, medieval glass from the E window of our first church, St Michael Stockton.
Virgin and child plus magus from St Michael Stockton, starting point of this year's Norfolk Churches Walk.
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Ballyclots calling RNLI volunteers scum are the worst. But reframe it as being not against those wonderful people but against saving lives - posit the notion that too many folk in the UK would rather see children like Alan Kurdi washed up dead on a beach - and that should shake them a bit.
Picture of 2 year old Alan Kurdi dead on a beach in 2011 by Nilüfer Demir
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I couldn't fault the casting, or the chorus. Quality still rules, however conservative the set-up. Several truly outstanding performances, including a young stand-in Amneris who has a great career ahead of her, Irene Savignano, centre below, with Yusef Eyvazov also standing in superbly as Radames.
Irene Savignano centre as Amneris at the Arena di Verona
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David Nice @davidnice.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
4/ Forgot I also took one after the Triumphal Scene had blazed to an end.
End of Triumphal Scene in Verdi's Aida at the Arena di Verona.
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