Meet the Moderator
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| Charles T. Downey at the piano, 2003 Photo © Joe Albright, Albright Creative Imagery |
Born near Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in the great state of Michigan. Began studying piano at the age of 15. Received Bachelor of Music in Piano at Michigan State University. Moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue graduate studies in musicology. Received M.A. and Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America, with research specialization in medieval music (M.A. thesis, "Breton Chant Notation in France and Northern Italy: A Comparative Study of Offertories in Chartres, Bibl. mun., 47 and Ivrea, Bibl. cap., LX") and French Baroque ballet and opera (dissertation, "Musical-Dramatic Works Derived from Ariosto and Tasso in the City of Paris, 1600–1800").
Lives in Washington, D.C., teaching music and art history, singing professionally with the Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and researching and commenting on the arts.
Ballet du Roy, ou de la Délivrance de Renault, Danced by the King of France on January 29, 1617. Versailles: Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, forthcoming.
With Greer Garden et al. Essays on the Ballet de Renault. Paris: Malaga Press, forthcoming.
With Keith Fleming†. "Some Multiple-Melody Communions with Texts from the Gospels." Études grégoriennes 33 (2005), 5–74.
"Ad imaginem suam: Regional Chant Variants and the Origins of the Jeu d'Adam." Comparative Drama 36 (2003): 359–90.
"The Breton Notation in Ivrea LX." Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 3 (1998): 187–93.
Report on "Chant and Palaeography" session. In Musicology and Sister Disciplines, Past, Present, Future: Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of the International Musicological Society, London, 1997, edited by David Greer (Part 3, "Reports on Study Sessions"). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
An Utrecht Antiphoner: Utrecht, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit 406 (3.J.7). Printouts from an Index in Machine-Readable Form: A CANTUS Index. Ed. Ruth Steiner. Musicological Studies, no. LV/6. Ottawa: The Institute of Mediaeval Music, 1997.
With Barbara Haggh, et al. Two Cambrai Antiphoners: Cambrai, Médiathèque municipale, 38 and Impr. XVI C 4. Printouts from Two Indices in Machine-Readable Form: A CANTUS Index. Musicological Studies, LV/4. Ottawa: The Institute of Mediaeval Music, 1995.
With Keith Glaeske. "Text and Music for the Lamentations: A Comparison of Settings in Cambrai XVI and Graz 29." Medieval Perspectives 10 (1995): 86–100.
"The Ballet de la délivrance de Renault as a Document of French Courtly Life." Meeting of American Musicological Society, Capital Chapter, 2 October 2004.
"The Ballet de la délivrance de Renault in history: participants, contemporary accounts." Eleventh Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music, Manchester, England, 15 July 2004.
"Dancing or Singing with One Bare Foot: A Magic Ritual on the French Stage." Symposium on Opera, Catholic University of America, Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, 25 February 1999.
"The Two Versions of the Ballet de la Délivrance de Renault." The American Musicological Society, National Meeting (Phoenix, Arizona), 1 November 1997.
"The Breton Notation in Ivrea LX." The International Musicological Society, Annual Meeting, Study Group "Cantus Planus," as part of the session "Chant and Paleography" (London, England), 18 August 1997.
"Let Him Kiss Me with the Kiss of His Mouth: Late Votive Antiphons in Honor of the Virgin Mary." The 31st International Congress on Medieval Studies (Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan), 9 May 1996.
With Keith Glaeske. "Text and Music for the Lamentations: A Comparison of Settings in Cambrai XVI and Graz 29." Meeting of the Southeastern Medieval Association (Arlington, Virginia), November, 1994.
"J. S. Bach's Christmas Cantata Cycle of 1725–26: A Model for the Christmas Oratorio?" Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Capital Chapter (Richmond, Virginia), April, 1993.
Review of Esther (Tragédie de Jean Racine), edited by Anne Piéjus. In Music & Letters 87 (2006): 494–496.
Review of Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, Charles-Hubert Gervais: un musicien au service du Régent et de Louis XV (Paris: CNRS, 2001). In Music & Letters 84 (2003): 485–88.
Review of Catherine Massip, L'art de bien chanter: Michel Lambert (1610–1696) (Paris: Société Française de Musicologie, 1999). In Music & Letters 83 (2002): 449–53.
Review of John S. Powell, Music and Theatre in France, 1600–1680, Oxford Monographs on Music (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000). In Music & Letters 82 (2001): 616–19.
Program notes for recording, I Sing of a Maiden: A Mosaic of Motets to the Virgin Mary, Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Gothic Records G 49111 (2000).
Review of Andrew Hughes, Late Medieval Liturgical Offices (Toronto, 1994). In Plainsong and Medieval Music 4 (1995): 203–208.
Contributed computerized indices to offerings of Project CANTUS (some in collaboration with other scholars):
| · Valenciennes, Bibliothèque municipale, 114 · Monza, Biblioteca capitolare, 15/79 · Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 1090 · Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, 611 (with Mette Kjaergaard) · Utrecht, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, 406 (3.J.7) · Tours, Bibliothèque municipale, 149 · Gottschalk Antiphonary (with Lisa Fagin Davis) · Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, lat. 15181 and lat. 15182 (with Susan Kidwell) | · Vorau, Stiftsbibliothek, 287 (29) · Graz, Universitätsbibliothek, 29 and 30 · Arras, Bibliothèque municipale, 465 (893) · Florence, Arcivescovado, s.c. · Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, Conv. sopp. 560 · Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, n.a. lat. 1535 · Cambrai, Médiathèque municipale, Impr. XVI C 4 (with Barbara Haggh et al.) · Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, Cappella Sistina 27 |
The World in 1911, Music in Encyclopædia Brittanica, 11th ed. (Ionarts, 25 August 2006)
Film Review: Trust the Man (Ionarts, 22 August 2006)
Palestrina, Canticum Canticorum, Capella Dvcale Venetia (Ionarts, 17 August 2006)
Film Review: Six Moral Tales (Ionarts, 9 August 2006)
Roberto Alagna: A Retrospective (Ionarts, 8 August 2006)
Vivaldi, Motezuma (Ionarts, 2 August 2006)
Ionarts in New York: Colonna Altarpiece at the Met (Ionarts, 25 July 2006)
Ionarts in New York: Pierpont Morgan Library (Ionarts, 24 July 2006)
Gunther Schuller: "I Am the Eternal Student" (Ionarts, 22 July 2006)
Gunther Schuller and Paul Klee (DCist, 21 July 2006)
Giacinto Scelsi: Space Music (Ionarts, 20 July 2006)
Ionarts at Santa Fe Opera, Summer 2006 (Ionarts, 19 July 2006)
Titian at the National Gallery (Ionarts, 11 July 2006)
Ground, Ignoti Dei Opera Company (Ionarts, 1 July 2006)
Offenbach, Orpheus in the Underworld (Ionarts, 25 June 2006)
Film Review: Good Bye, Lenin! (Ionarts, 23 June 2006)
Going for Baroque in Washington (DCist, 19 June 2006)
New Choral Music (Ionarts, 19 June 2006)
Don Quixote and Music (Ionarts, 17 June 2006)
Ligeti's Metronomes (Ionarts, 15 June 2006)
Britten String Quartets, Belcea Quartet (Ionarts, 13 June 2006)
Film Review: The New World (Ionarts, 10 June 2006)
Mahler, Symphony of a Thousand, National Symphony (9 June 2006)
Mozart, Idomeneo, Opera Lafayette (Ionarts, 4 June 2006)
Just What Are the Bach Cello Suites (Ionarts, 1 June 2006)
Julia Fischer, Beethoven Violin Concerto, Baltimore Symphony (DCist, 27 May 2006)
Nicola Benedetti Plays Szymanowski (Ionarts, 27 May 2006)
Britten, Turn of the Screw, Châteauville Foundation (DCist, 23 May 2006)
Hanging up Their Instruments: Farewell to the Palestrina Choir (Ionarts, 20 May 2006)
Angela Hewitt's English Suites (Ionarts, 16 May 2006)
Schubertiade with Andsnes and Bostridge (Ionarts, 13 May 2006)
Lang Lang's Trip down Memory Lane (Ionarts, 10 May 2006)
Ahn Trio (DCist, 5 May 2006)
On the Transmigration of Souls, Baltimore Symphony (DCist, 29 April 2006) / Extended version (Ionarts, 29 April 2006)
Dutilleux, Correspondances, National Symphony (DCist, 28 April 2006)
Goldberg Variations, Richard Egarr (Ionarts, 26 April 2006)
Jerusalem Quartet at JCCGW (Ionarts, 24 April 2006)
Film Review: Fauteuils d'orchestre (Ionarts, 19 April 2006)
Opera on DVD: Dialogues des Carmélites (Ionarts, 17 April 2006)
Anna Netrebko, Sempre Libera (Ionarts, 14 April 2006)
Quatuor Diotima at La Maison Française (Ionarts, 12 April 2006)
Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center (DCist, 5 April 2006)
Le Douanier Rousseau: Jungles à Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais (Ionarts, 9 April 2006)
Film Review: La Baie des Anges (Ionarts, 7 April 2006)
Takács Quartet at the Corcoran Gallery (Ionarts, 1 April 2006)
Seascapes in Sound, Hiroshi Sugimoto (Ionarts, 31 March 2006)
Kaija Saariaho (Ionarts, 30 March 2006)
George Antheil, Le Ballet mécanique (Ionarts, 30 March 2006)
Pierre Bonnard, Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris (Ionarts, 29 March 2006)
Rachel Barton Pine, National Gallery (Ionarts, 28 March 2006)
Adventures in Modern Art, Paris (Ionarts, 28 March 2006)
Das Rheingold, Washington National Opera (DCist, 27 March 2006)
Sandrine Piau at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Ionarts, 26 March 2006)
La Messe at Notre-Dame (Ionarts, 21 March 2006)
Ionarts Goes to Artparis (Ionarts, 20 and 24 March 2006)
Ingres at the Louvre (Ionarts, 20 March 2006)
Dead Man Walking, Baltimore Opera (Ionarts, 14 March 2006)
Ian Bostridge and Friends, Library of Congress (Ionarts, 13 March 2006)
Turtle Island String Quartet, Strathmore Mansion (Ionarts, 10 March 2006)
Film Review: Lola (Ionarts, 4 March 2006)
Schubertabend with Kissin and Levine (Ionarts, 2 March 2006)
Jerusalem Symphony at Strathmore (Ionarts, 1 March 2006)
Vienna Piano Trio at Shriver Hall (Ionarts, 27 February 2006)
Meredith Monk, Impermanence (Ionarts, 26 February 2006)
Rachel Barton Pine and Maud Powell (Ionarts, 24 February 2006)
Parsifal, Kirov Opera (DCist, 22 February 2006)
Turandot, Kirov Opera (DCist, 20 February 2006)
Peter Schickele at the Library of Congress (Ionarts, 18 February 2006)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Kennedy Center (14 February 2006)
Alfred Brendel at the Kennedy Center (8 February 2006)
Brendel and Mozart (Ionarts, 6 February 2006)
Alan Held at Wolf Trap (Ionarts, 5 February 2006)
William Bolcom, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Ionarts, 2 February 2006)
Mozart's Birthday with the National Symphony (DCist, 28 January 2006)
Handel Arias, Sandrine Piau (Ionarts, 26 January 2006)
Angel and Devil: Paolo Pandolfo at Dumbarton Oaks (Ionarts, 23 January 2006)
Handel Arias, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Ionarts, 20 January 2006)
Film Review: L'univers de Jacques Demy (Ionarts, 17 January 2006)
Ives, Concord Sonata (Ionarts, 16 January 2006)
Hilliard Ensemble and Nicolas Gombert (Ionarts, 15 January 2006)
Film Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Ionarts, 5 January 2006)
Cédric Tiberghien, Bach Keyboard Partitas (Ionarts, 29 December 2005)
Film Review: Peau d'âne (Ionarts, 27 December 2005)
Listening to An American Tragedy (Ionarts, 24 December 2005)
Trio Mediæval at the Kennedy Center (Ionarts, 13 December 2005)
Osvaldo Golijov, Ayre (Ionarts, 6 December 2005)
Remembering Enescu (Ionarts, 3 December 2005)
Opera on DVD: Massenet's Thaïs (Ionarts, 29 November 2005)
Andreas Scholl Conjures Senesino (Ionarts, 21 November 2005)
Bach's Unaccompanied Violin Bible (Ionarts, 17 November 2005)
Hilary Hahn at the Kennedy Center (DCist, 14 November 2005)
La Sonnambula, Baltimore Opera (Ionarts, 14 November 2005)
Salzburg Marionnettes: Magic Flute (Ionarts, 9 November 2005)
Chant and Polyphony at the National Gallery (Ionarts, 8 November 2005)
Porgy and Bess, Washington National Opera (DCist, 4 November 2005)
Cecilia Bartoli at the Kennedy Center (Ionarts, 28 October 2005)
Renée Fleming at the Kennedy Center (DCist, 19 October 2005)
Let Us Listen to Brother Voltaire (Ionarts, 11 October 2005)
Beaux Arts Trio at the National Gallery (Ionarts, 10 October 2005)
Tōru Takemitsu Concert at the Library of Congress (Ionarts, 9 October 2005)
Hans Werner Henze's L'Upupa (Ionarts, 26 September 2005)
Håkon Austbø and Synesthesia, Hirshhorn Museum (DCist, 12 September 2005)
The Ring Cycle, adapted by Jonathan Dove, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh (Ionarts, 16 and 19 July 2005)
Ionarts at Cahokia (Ionarts, 29 June 2005)
Britten, Gloriana, Opera Theater of St. Louis (Ionarts, 28 June 2005)
New Music at La Maison Française (DCist, 11 June 2005)
= recommended
