Berlin Opera Will Bring Back Mozart Opera Canceled over Security Fears

A German opera company said Friday it would bring back a Mozart opera canceled because of security fears over a scene featuring the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Deutsche Oper Berlin said in a statement that it hoped to stage two performances of the controversial Hans Neuenfels production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" before the end of the year, after receiving a new security assessment from police.

The cancellation of four scheduled fall performances last month by opera head Kirsten Harms, after a vague security warning from police, triggered a furious debate about free speech.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the decision crazy, and Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against "self-censorship out of fear."

The opera includes a scene with the severed heads of Jesus, Mohammad, Neptune and Buddha. That was an addition to the 225-year-old opera by director Hans Neuenfels, who said it was his protest against all organized religion.

Despite the criticism, Harms refused to put the production on again without an all-clear from police. On Thursday, Berlin police issued a statement that there was no "concrete danger" to the opera or staff.

The opera house said Friday that it "had begun without delay the relevant preparations for reviving the opera."

Police said they and the opera house would discuss possible security precautions shortly before the performances.

The debate over the cancellation came after Pope Benedict XVI drew criticism for quoting a medieval Christian emperor calling Islam "evil" and "inhuman," and after widespread protest in the Muslim world over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad printed in a Danish newspaper.