An opera containing a scene in which the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad is depicted has opened under heavy security in Germany's capital, Berlin.

Mozart and the German Opera in Berlin remain in the glare of publicity over the modern staging of "Idomeneo," a 225-year-old opera.

The modern staging has become caught up in cultural tensions between the Islamic world and the West because it features the severed heads of the great teachers of world religion, including the Prophet Muhammad.

Into the Little Hill, composed by George Benjamin, the internationally renowned composer and conductor and Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King's, premieres in Paris tonight (22 November). The opera marks the centrepiece of a retrospective of Professor Benjamin's works by the 35th Festival d'Automne.