P1050021 | Originally uploaded by dawnvla
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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.

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 not make it over the Channel in time. Read on to see what happened - the orchestra managers must have been having absolute fits trying to work this one out in time! [Read more →]

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 North Korean refugee musicians whom he knew from music school in Bucharest, Romania, over 50 years ago, and who were later returned back to North Korea after the Korean War. [Read more →]

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 saying: [Read more →]

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 the atmosphere will be politicized,” Mr. Pak told them.

North Korea invited the Philharmonic to play in Pyongyang, the capital, and the orchestra has accepted. It will spend 48 hours there, performing on Feb. 26 after a tour in China. The State Department has fully backed the trip and has provided advice and planning.

A follow-up article from the New York Times:

If North Korea keeps its promises, potentially millions of its isolated, tightly controlled citizens are likely to hear their national anthem played on the radio by the New York Philharmonic. And then they will hear “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a quintessential American symbol, in a place long subjected to anti-American propaganda.

A blog entry by conductor Bill Eddins:

In case you are living in a cultural cave (why then are you reading this blog of all things?) the NYPhil just announced that they are going to play in North Korea at the end of their Asian tour. This has generated a fair share of controversy. No less of a pundit than Terry Teachout is pretty dead set against this idea, as are various National Security advisers, etc. They argue that this act will merely legitimize a totalitarian regime. Not to start a blog war between myself and Terry, someone who’s opinion I happen to take very seriously, but he is dead wrong.

A blog entry by Drew McManus:

As such, unless there are indisputable facts that support the conclusion that the New York Philharmonic’s trip will directly support oppression, it is time to trust that the universal language will begin to forge bridges across rivers of misinformation and propaganda. As Bill wrote “God knows it may take a while but this can and will be a first step.”