by Charles Noble on February 28, 2009 · 1 comment
Courtesy of Sam Bergman with the Minnesota Orchestra (on tour in Cologne, Germany):
P1050021 | Originally uploaded by dawnvla
click photo to enlarge
New York Philharmonic violist Dawn Hannay kept a blog of her tour of North Korea. You can find it here, along with photos here. UPDATE: link to Dawn’s blog fixed.
P1050021 | Originally uploaded by dawnvla
click photo to enlarge
Thanks to MH for the link.
by Charles Noble on March 13, 2008
The London Symphony Orchestra recently had a mishap of mammoth proportions occur on a trip to Dijon, France this past weekend. A French ferry strike led to the stranding of the truck containing almost all of the orchestra’s instruments, wardrobe, and music. The musicians had been flown into Dijon, but the truck could [...]
by Charles Noble on February 25, 2008
Many of you may be unaware that Oregon Symphony violinist Elena Hirsu’s father Valentin is a cellist with the New York Phiharmonic. He is profiled in today’s New York Times while the orchestra is visiting North Korea. He was asking for information from North Korean musicians as to the whereabouts of several orphaned [...]
by Charles Noble on February 7, 2008 · 1 comment
In one of the more bizarre stories I’ve read so far, right-wing commentators are up in arms about remarks made by New York Philharmonic music director and conductor Lorin Maazel, who responded to criticisms about the visit to North Korea by his ensemble as being a possible endorsement of NK’s abysmal record on human rights [...]
by Charles Noble on December 11, 2007
UPDATE (11/12): Yet another follow-follow-up article from the New York Times:
But before addressing the news media, Mr. Pak, the permanent representative of his country to the United Nations, met briefly with orchestra officials and their public relations advisers. They agreed to avoid discussing North Korea’s nuclear program, a major concern of the United States. “Otherwise [...]