Berlin's Deutsche Oper has removed the provocative staging of a Mozart opera from its schedule for fear of enraging Muslims, the opera house said in a statement. One of three opera houses in the German capital, it cancelled director Hans Neuenfels's production of "Idomeneo", a 1781 drama set in ancient Crete, because authorities warned it could present an "incalculable security risk".
In the staging, which sparked audience protests during its premiere in December 2003, King Idomeneo presents the lopped-off heads of Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha and the Prophet Mohammed and displays them on four chairs.
German critics saw the show at the time as a radical attack on religion and religious wars.
Musical director Kirsten Harms decided to cancel the new staging of the opera, scheduled for November, to avert "any danger to the audience or staff" that could arise from violent protests.
The opera itself deals with resistance to sacrifices demanded by the gods but makes no mention of any of the world's major religions.
The cancellation comes two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI sparked Muslim anger on a visit to his native Germany when he quoted from a medieval text that criticized some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".
And the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten set off a firestorm in the Muslim world when it printed 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed last September and other, mostly European, newspapers followed suit.
Islam considers images of the prophet to be blasphemous.
