N.Y. Philharmonic announces February date in Pyongyang

The Star-Spangled Banner, Gershwin's An American in Paris and Dvorak's New World Symphony will all be part of the New York Philharmonic's musical lineup for its upcoming concert in North Korea, officials announced Tuesday.

Orchestra president and executive director Zarin Mehta revealed details of the U.S. troupe's planned trip to the ultra-reclusive Communist nation at New York's Lincoln Centre on Tuesday.

The orchestra's 48-hour visit to North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, will begin Feb. 26.

In addition to performing an evening concert, Mehta said, orchestra members will conduct master classes with their North Korean counterparts and hold an open rehearsal.

"This visit will surely deepen the understanding and cultural relations of the two countries," Pak Gil Yon, North Korea's UN ambassador, said at Tuesday's announcement.

Pak declined to discuss the political implications of the visit or whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Il would attend the concert or meet any of the visiting Americans.

News of the visit has bubbled around since late this summer, after North Korean officials first broached the idea of a concert.

The philharmonic subsequently received an official invitation from the North Korean Culture Ministry and, in October, Mehta travelled to Pyongyang to make arrangements for the visit — which comes on the heels of the troupe's China tour from Feb. 7 to 25.

The concert stop is being touted as an important step in the current thawing of tense relations between the U.S. and North Korea, following the latter's decision to reveal details about its nuclear programs and disable several reactors and nuclear installations.

While scholars and Korean-American groups have responded favourably to the philharmonic's visit— praising the move to increase North Korea's exposure to the outside world — some have criticized the attempt.

In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, arts critic Terry Teachout wrote that the visit would "be doing little more than participating in a puppet show whose purpose is to lend legitimacy to a despicable regime."

British soprano Suzannah Clarke, one of the few Western artists to have performed several times in the isolated nation, recently spoke about her attempt to spearhead a 10-day, U.K. performance visit for the North Korean State Orchestra — a visit that would be the troupe's first tour abroad.