Pyongyang diary: A cellist’s personal account of music diplomacy to North Korea

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Pyongyang diary: A cellist’s personal account of music diplomacy to North Korea

Carter Brey of the New York Philharmonic shares his behind-the-scenes story of a historic concert in the DPRK

Ifang Bremer | Jeongmin Kim March 2, 2022

Pyongyang diary: A cellist’s personal account of music diplomacy to North Korea

The New York Philharmonic performance at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre in Pyongyang was broadcast live on North Korean state TV | Image: EuroArts (Feb. 26, 2008)

North Korean state media recently revealed that former U.S. President Donald Trump gave DPRK leader Kim Jong an unusual gift at their 2018 summit in Singapore — sheet music from a concert by a prestigious American orchestra in Pyongyang.

The gift underlines how the historic performance by the New York Philharmonic at the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre continues to reverberate today, nearly a decade and a half after the rare cultural diplomacy between the two longtime enemy states.

About the Authors

Ifang Bremer

Ifang Bremer is a Seoul Correspondent at NK News. He has worked on investigations for The Guardian and The Observer and previously wrote features on Korea for Dutch newspaper NRC.

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Jeongmin Kim

Jeongmin Kim is the Lead Correspondent at NK News and Editorial Director at KOREA PRO, based in Seoul. Kim covers inter-Korean relations and North and South Korean foreign and military affairs. Kim has covered the 2022 ROK presidential election on the ground, and prior to joining NK News, she worked for the CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. and Reuters news agency’s Seoul bureau.

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