Seoul- The New York Philharmonic Orchestra arrived Wednesday in South Korea a day after an historic performance in North Korea. The orchestra will be giving a concert, conducted by Lorin Maazel, Thursday as part of its tour of Asia.
Members of the orchestra had met and played music North Korean musicians at the close of its visit to isolated North Korea, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported from Pyongyang.
Four members of the Philharmonic Orchestra had given a chamber music concert with their North Korea counterparts. Maazel had also led a rehearsal by the North Korean Symphony Orchestra.
The New York Philharmonic had performed an unprecendented live concert Tuesday evening in communist, nuclear-armed North Korea.
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.
The concert at the East Pyongyang Great Theatre was broadcast live on North Korea's state-run TV and represents the first important cultural contact between the US and the isolated country.
After the concert, Maazel said the enthusiastic reception in North Korea had given him the feeling that a task had been done.
"We may have been instrumental in opening a little door here."
The official North Korean news agency KCNA had praised the concert but without mentioning its importance, saying only, "The world- renowned philharmonic with a long history showed exquisite and refined execution."
The White House Washington played down the concert's possible impact on bilateral relations. It was ultimately a concert, said a spokeswoman Dana Perino, adding, "And that is not a diplomatic coup."
