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Charles T. Downey

@ionarts.bsky.social

860 followers 1.1K following 590 posts

Associate Editor and Lead Critic, Washington Classical Review; Founder of Ionarts; Ph.D. in Historical Musicology; Classical Music Fiend; Opera Addict; Baroqueux agréable and Public Musicologist (all views expressed are my own, not those of my employers)

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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · Feb 8

As a follow-up to the latest bad news, a reminder from Oreo to nap for 16 hours of every day

Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 3h

Latest on WCR - the second annual Festival Capriccio got under way last night with an all-Handel recital by Pierre Hantaï at the French Embassy (Photo: Carolyn Winter) washingtonclassicalreview.com/2025/10/16/h...

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Reposted by Charles T. Downey

Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 23h

Researchers in France looked at more than 500,000 infants and found no connection between Covid vaccination in the first trimester and any of dozens of birth defects, adding to the body of evidence for the vaccines' safety during pregnancy.

Covid Vaccines in First Trimester Not Tied to Birth Defects, Study Finds

www.nytimes.com

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Simon Brackenborough @sbrackenborough.bsky.social · 23h

fucking hell www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘Prince Andrew believed having sex with me was his birthright’: Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Epstein, Maxwell and the king’s brother

In an extract from her posthumous memoir, Virginia Roberts Giuffre remembers the day an ‘apex predator’ recruited her from Mar-a-Lago, aged just 16; how she was trafficked to a succession of wealthy a...

www.theguardian.com

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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 22h

An ice sculpture of the word “Democracy” has been placed on the National Mall in direct view of the U.S. Capitol as a vanishing reminder, its creators said, of rapidly eroding rights and an existential threat to the freedom on which America was founded.

On the National Mall, ‘Democracy’ drips in daylight

Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry’s, helped bring a 3,000-pound ice sculpture to the capital as a warning that “democracy is melting away before our very eyes.”

wapo.st

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Kara Swisher @karaswisher.bsky.social · 1d

I thought they said it was wrong for an administration to ask a social media platform to take stuff down.

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 2d

Whether it's young Democrats expressing their support for DEI or young Republicans saying "I love Hitler,' both sides have expressed controversial opinions.

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 1d

This is what happens when your country is run by incompetent knuckleheads.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

We were actually getting somewhere, too. 😞

@sbmitche.bsky.social
www.library.hbs.edu/working-know...

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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 1d

Belated thoughts on Stuttgart Ballet's "Onegin" at the Kennedy Center last week - very glad to see the company and this ballet, in spite of everything ionarts.blogspot.com/2025/10/stut...

Stuttgart Ballet's "Onegin" comes to the Kennedy Center

Friedemann Vogel (Onegin) and Elisa Badenes (Tatiana) in John Cranko's Onegin , Stuttgart Ballet Photo: Studio LLC The Stuttgart Ballet retu...

ionarts.blogspot.com

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Mia Farrow @miafarrow.bsky.social · 1d

In 1962, author Roald Dahl’s beloved 7-yr-old daughter, Olivia, tragically died from measles, This devastating loss left an indelible mark on Dahl, propelling him into a lifelong crusade to raise awareness about the importance of childhood vaccinations.
ifeg.info/2025/10/12/r...

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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 1d

This is dark

Mike Luckovich @mluckovich.bsky.social · 1d

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Rebecca J. Ritzel @rjritzel.bsky.social · 1d

Un-effing-believable. The rogue nonprofit Cultural DC sold The Source, pretty much the only shared arts venue in the downtown core, and gave $500,000 to Howard University for visiting artists residencies, instead of providing space for DC artists. dctheaterarts.org/2025/10/14/a...

After 27 years, CulturalDC announces sunset and legacy gifts

Legacy gifts include a half-million-dollar endowment to Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and a $250,000 gift to Theatre Alliance.

dctheaterarts.org

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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 1d

thank heavens the party whose cadres joke in private about "loving Hitler," "hating the Jews," and sending their political opponents "to the gas chambers" has taken charge of the effort to purge our college campuses of antisemitism

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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 2d

If you're going to a No Kings march instead of a witty sign that might elicit a chuckle maybe you could just carry an American flag

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 2d

good LORD

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 2d

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

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Tauroctonist @tauroctonist.bsky.social · 2d

Never forget. 10/14/1066.

A doge meme image in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry with the words "such battle", "wow", "much Bayeux", "so Hastings", and "very tapestry" scattered around the image.

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 2d

Subscribe to The Onion and help us become a bigger newspaper than The Washington Post by next year. It can happen!

membership.theonion.com

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

wow. bezos has destroyed this paper.

karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 2d

Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...

The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay

Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.

www.forbes.com

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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 2d

Lovely poem by Arthur Sze www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

“Library of Congress”

“Here’s a book / on neutrinos captured in Antarctica, / here’s another on solar flares.”

www.newyorker.com

Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 2d

I had a nightmare where the only version of Dante's Inferno known to historians of the future was from the video game

anna 🫧🍧💿 @bastilas.bsky.social · 3d

sometimes I think about this

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Kristin Kuster @kristinkuster.bsky.social · 2d

Wait. Didn’t Dude Duffy say recently that we are planning to set up a base in the moon. 🤷‍♀️

Reuters @reuters.com · 2d

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers reut.rs/4302N2L

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Monday it will cut nearly 550 jobs as part of a restructuring, not related to the current U.S. government shutdown.

reut.rs

Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 3d

WCR Critic's Choice for the week: Opera Lafayette's fresh looks at Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," 7:30 p.m. October 16 and 18 at Sixth & I - please read my interview with the company's new artistic director, Patrick Quigley, and his plans for the future washingtonclassicalreview.com/2025/10/13/p...

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Jeff Moore @jbm0.bsky.social · 3d

"The Danes used empathy politically—an action abhorred by right-wing leaders, who have gone so far as to brand it as an enemy and a weakness. But what they are leaving unsaid is that fascism cannot prosper where empathy exists."

www.thenation.com/article/acti...

The Danes Resisted Fascism, and So Can We

Danish resistance didn’t arrive all at once during World War II. But taken as a whole, the Danes’ actions are a testament to what’s possible when we work together to fight fascism.

www.thenation.com

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Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 3d

Once again - don't buy tickets to Shen Yun

Charlie Hebdo @charliehebdo.fr · 3d

Le matraquage publicitaire pour la spectacle de Shen Yun bat son plein en France tandis que les procédures juridiques s'accumulent outre-Atlantique contre la compagnie pour exploitation d'enfants dans « un système d’emprise qui commence dès l’arrivée des enfants ».

Violences, isolement et exploitation : Shen Yun, le spectacle de danse qui vous en mettra plein les yeux

Des drapés multicolores, des éventails incandescents, un orchestre symphonique qui joue au rythme des portés célestes, des contorsions magiques et des sauts plus que périlleux… Ça fait rêver, n’est-ce pas ? Shen Yun, « il faut le voir au moins une fois dans sa vie », nous dit la voix générique du teaser 2026 de […]

charliehebdo.fr

Charles T. Downey @ionarts.bsky.social · 3d

This is how a democracy should spend its money

CNRS @cnrs.fr · 3d

Le CNRS est partenaire des 6 projets dédiés aux sciences humaines et sociales retenus par #France2030 en 2024, pour enrichir les connaissances et créer un levier d’expertise au service de la décision publique.

France 2030 : les sciences humaines et sociales en action

D’abord centré sur les technologies de demain, le programme France 2030 s’est enrichi en 2024 d’un appel dédié aux sciences humaine