Berlin opera bans Mozart for fear of provoking Islamic extremists

Kirstin Harms said the opera had received information the work could provoke a security risk. Picture / Reuters

BERLIN - A Mozart opera production in which the severed head of the Muslim prophet Mohammed is shown on stage was banned by one of Berlin's main opera houses yesterday because of fears that the work might provoke a terrorist attack by Islamic extremists.

The decision, by Berlin's Deutsche Opera to cancel a forthcoming presentation of the Mozart work Idomeneo provoked uproar among politicians and German theatre directors who said the opera house had allowed itself to be intimidated.

"This is mad," said Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German Interior Minister who has invited Muslim leaders to attend an Islamic conference in Berlin, "Taking such measures is ridiculous and totally unacceptable," he added.

Kirstin Harms, the Deutsche Oper's manager said the company had decided to remove Idomoneo from its programme after receiving information from Berlin police which suggested that the work could provoke what she described as an "incalculable security risk" to the public if it was shown.

Her decision was attacked by Bernd Neumann government's culture minister: "If fears about possible protests result in self-censorship, then the democratic principles of free speech are in danger," he said.

In the opera house's production of the Mozart work that was first shown in 1871, the Cretan King, Idomeneo holds up the severed heads of the Greek mythological figure Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed and places them on four chairs.

The production, by the director Hans Neuenfels, deals with man's reluctance to make sacrifices to the gods.

When his interpretation was first shown in 2003, it caused uproar among opera goers attending the performance.

Several religious groups said they were offended.

Critics described the work as a radical condemnation of religion and religious wars.

Mr Neuenfels, joined critics of the Duetsche Oper yesterday: "More than ever, the opera should be shown and widely discussed," he said, "According to our understanding of culture, that is what opera is for," he added.

The Berlin police yesterday denied that they had received any concrete threat of a terrorist attack being made on the opera house.

A spokesman said that the police had simply warned the Deutsche Oper that "disruptions could not be ruled out" given the controversial nature of the performance.

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