Phil performs the role of Krakamiche in Le dernier sorcier for Buxton International Festival 2026.

A Buxton International Festival production, featuring musicians from the Buxton International Festival Orchestra

One hundred and fifty-nine years ago, the great mezzo-soprano, composer, and pedagogue Pauline García Viardot created the salon opera Le dernier sorcier (The Last Sorcerer) in collaboration with the acclaimed Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev. The piece centred on themes of power and progress, gender and equality, and the restoration of natural order in an ever-changing world.

A chamber opera in two acts, Le dernier sorcier revolves around Krakamiche, a once-powerful sorcerer whose presence in the great woods has upset the fairies, the forest’s rightful inhabitants, and disturbed the harmony of the land. Through the combined efforts of the fairy folk and their queen, the sorcerer’s daughter and her prince, and a hapless valet, Krakamiche ultimately learns key truths about humility, love, and living in harmony with the natural world.

‘A recently rediscovered treasure by one of the most compelling musicians of the 19th century, with words by one of the era’s greatest literary figures, resonates with themes that speak to us in our own era.’ – Opera Now

Libretto by Ivan Turgenev

Sung in French, with English side-titles