Mozart's Idomeneo Opens In Berlin

After months of preparation an opera by Mozart is set to open in Berlin. The controversy this classic has created has baffled some and scared many. Want to buy a ticket?

First performed in 1781, one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's first operas, Idomeneo, was not really a "smash hit." In 2006 however, the performance of the opera in Berlin has become a flashpoint of censorship versus racial and religious harmony. Although not in the original version of Mozart's opera at one point in the story King Idomeneo enters holding the heads of several people, one of whom is suggested to be the head of the Islamic Prophet, Mohammed. For a period of time the opera company called off the performance amid concern of violence. Today it opens for the public, and as NPR news reported, tickets are fairly easy to come by.