(Photo: Hilary Scott/BSO)

Continuing the great tradition of operatic performance at Tanglewood, Charles Dutoit led the Boston Symphony Orchstra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, PALS Children's Chorus, and soloists in a performance of Berlioz's Damnation of Faust on Saturday night in the Shed: a mammoth undertaking by any measure. Performed without intermission, Berlioz' "dramatic legend" lasted some 2 1/2 hours, encapsulating Goethe's entire epic: from his desperate struggle to obtain youth and happiness, to his eventual end in the bowels of hell. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham stole the show as Marguerite, with strong support from Paul Groves (Faust), Sir Willard White (Mephistopheles), and Christopher Feigum (Brander). 

 (Photo: Hilary Scott)