Congrats to @glyndebourne for a brilliant Festival 2026 ending for me last night with an excellent performance of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with a brilliant cast - stand out for me was @MichaelMofidian as Osmin - great end to an excellent Festival #glyndebourne #opera

Excellent the #DarkShadows 60th Anniversary Edition of #DaytimeGothic has made it across the Pond looks brilliant congrats @StuartManning and team @darkshadowscomment.bsky.social

Always a magical moment the musical call back after the first interval of Wagner’s #Rienzi at the Bayreuth Opera Festival #wagner #bayreuth

What a find at the Wagner Opera Festival in #Bayreuth - a T-Shirt with one of my fav passages from #Wagner’s Ring what the Wanderer says to Alberich It expresses that every being follows its own nature and cannot be forcibly bent it reminds me of line 455 from Beowulf “gaéð á wyrd swá hío scel”

The new production of Wagner’s Rienzi at the 150th Anniversary Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth is incredibly powerful a stellar cast telling a timely story about power and corruption composed by Wagner long before the Ring and Tristan and well deserved to be performed at the Festespiele House

Richard #Wagner kept an fascinating library at his home at #Wahnfried which I visited while here for the @WagnerFestival 2026 - over 2,500 books are on display in the main Salle and I spent some time reviewing the titles. #wagner #bayreuth

This has to be one of the most powerful plays I have seen in a while. Simon Stone’s adaptation of the #Oresteia at the @BridgeTheatre powerful and gripping with tour de force performances by @davemorrissey64 @MaryLouiseParker @RosieSheehy @TomGlynnCarney and @ArchieMadekwe 👏👏

Ok after watching #TheOdyssey I am now on a #Homer jag - re-reading some in the original and have started this book which is proving very interesting

Saw #ChristopherNolan’s #Odyssey last night in 70mm IMAX fantastic film brilliant performances and incredible soundtrack by #LudwigGorranson I do have quibbles about the portrayal of Odysseus the πολυτροπος man and will now dig into the reviews including @InstantClassics podcast

Kaor! My exploration of #languageinvention on Mars continues! #conlang #sciencefiction

open.substack.com/pub/drandrew... #conlang #inventedlanguages #sciencefiction

Wow! What a fantastic opening performance of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at #Glyndebourne tonight! Stellar cast a must see!! 👏👏👏#opera

Last?? @imc-leeds.bsky.social book purchase from @UniversityofWalesPress #IMC2026

Eglerio! Utúlie'n aurë! Today we have four #Tolkien at @imc-leeds.bsky.social sessions with a great paper line up! #IMC2026

And my #Tolkien paper at @imc-leeds.bsky.social first Tolkien at Leeds session is now delivered - now I can listen to all the others and buy books #IMC2026

First day of @imc-leeds.bsky.social #IMC2026 and #Tolkien at Leeds last minute work on my paper later today

Eglerio! My book review of this excellent new #Tolkien volume from Walking Tree Publishers has been posted to the open access Journal of #Tolkien Research scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcont...

Lovely to return to my beloved @glyndebourne tonight to see Michael Grandage’s fantastic #BillyBudd (not seen in ten years!) with a phenomenal cast including Thomas Mole as Billy and my dream Captain Vere @fatboyclayton - one of #Glyndebourne’s best bravi tutti 👏👏👏👏👏 #opera

Happy 60th Anniversary to #DarkShadows my celebratory Substack Post open.substack.com/pub/drandrew... @darkshadowsnews.bsky.social

Cyrhaeddodd Heddiw! Ardderchog mae hyn yn edrych fel hwyl! #welsh #language #philology

open.substack.com/pub/drandrew...

Eglerio! Will definitely be submitting an abstract for this online @tolkiensociety.org seminar in November on #Tolkien’s Invented Languages - deadline for submission end of July. www.tolkiensociety.org/events/semin... #conlangs #tolkien #Elvish

Really interesting and comprehensive work of #Tolkien scholarship on the free to access Journal of #Tolkien Research scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcont...

My Ballet conversion continues! Fantastic performance last night of Frederick Ashton’s charming LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE at @royalballetandopera with incredible dancing including dream team of @MNunezOfficial and @VMuntagirov #ballet

Was great to return to Glyndebourne yesterday for the opening of the 2026 Festival and a new powerful production of Tosca directed by Ted Huffman and conducted by Robin Ticciati great way to start the Festival and fantastic Programme Book with cover by William Kentridge #opera #glyndebourne #LPO

Congrats to team #Glyndebourne for a brilliant opening night and new production of #Tosca @glyndebourne #opera c

Great way to start at a #Medieval conference - finding a brilliant free book! open.substack.com/pub/drandrew... #oldenglish #tolkien

Eglerio! And thats a wrap to #Tolkien at Kalamazoo 2026 - excellent papers, great sessions and good book room activity. Will be posting a Wrap Up to my Substack soon, #KZoo2026

Eglerio! It is Day One of the International Medieval Conference at @wmuhumanities.bsky.social and #Tolkien at #Kalamazoo 2026 and I will report later on my Substack on the sessions, book room wanderings and general discussions #Kzoo2026

Long before Comic-Con! Report from possibly the First Sci Fi Convention from Punch Magazine in 1891 “revelled at the Albert Hall, which last week was given up to a festival called “The Coming Race.” open.substack.com/pub/drandrew...