Pyongyang - The New York Philharmonic received thunderous applause from a North Korean audience when it played its historic, unprecendented concert Tuesday evening in the communist, nuclear- armed country. Under the direction of conductor Lorin Maazel the performance began with the national anthems of both countries and included pieces by Richard Wagner, Antonin Dvorak's and George Gershwin's An American in Paris.
It concluded with the Korean folk piece Arirang.
Before the Philharmonic took to the stage, Maazel described the concert as a "gesture of goodwill and friendship."
The concert at the East Pyongyang Great Theatre was broadcast live on North Korea's state-run TV and represented the first important cultural contact between the US and the isolated country.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not attend the concert.
About 300 people, including the 106 musicians of the orchestra, staff and journalists landed in Pyongyang on Monday via Beijing.
Zarin Mehta, the Philharmonic's president and executive director, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
