Based on the works of Hector Berlioz

Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust is a work born of the composer’s obsession with Goethe's legendary tale. Once a righteous scholar, Faust allows himself to be corrupted by the devil, and drags the innocent around him into desperation and death. It’s a fable that defies definition – both a tragedy and dark comedy, with a central character both wise and despicable, and a play and epic poem in one. Mystified by this tragic story, Berlioz’s work is, too, an astounding hybrid of opera, oratorio and, in the composer’s own words, ‘dramatic legend’.