Filmmaker and former Python Terry Gilliam's smash-hit production of Berlioz's Damnation of Faust for English National Opera has been one of the operatic highlights of 2011. Peter Hoare stars as Faust, with Christopher Purves as Mephistopheles, who propels him on a rollercoaster ride through German history, ending with the rise of Hitler and Faust's inevitable damnation. Edward Gardner conducts the ENO Chorus and Orchestra.