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The New York Philharmonic arrived in North Korea on Monday. A chartered Asiana Airlines jet carrying 280 people, including the 105-member ensemble (seven of whom are Korean-American), orchestra executives, supporting staff and journalists, departed Beijing and landed at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport at 4 p.m.
CNN broadcast the arrival in Pyongyang live around the world. The musicians toured the city in two groups before attending a dinner reception hosted by the (North) Korean Association for Art Exchange at the Yanggakdo Hotel, where they are staying, at 8 p.m.
The ensemble is being accompanied by journalists from around 50 media companies, including the Chosun Ilbo, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ABC, FoxNews, CBS and CNN.
Prior to the orchestra's arrival, the North Korean regime removed some anti-American propaganda banners and posters from downtown Pyongyang.
The orchestra will stay in Pyongyang for 48 hours. On Tuesday it will perform before an audience of 1,500 at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater under the baton of music director Lorin Maazel.
The ensemble will play the Prelude to Act III of Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin," Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, in E Minor "From the New World," and George Gershwin's "An American in Paris." The concert will be broadcast live on North Korea's state-run TV and radio.
If there is an encore request from the audience, the orchestra will perform, without a conductor, "Overture to Candide" by Leonard Bernstein, its late music director. That will be followed by a performance of the Korean folk song "Arirang."
The Philharmonic is scheduled to leave Pyongyang on Wednesday afternoon and arrive at Incheon International Airport around 2:30 p.m. the same day.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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