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A really big show:

The New York Philharmonic's fantasia in North Korea

By Suki Kim

By noon on February 25, 2008, seventy-five journalists were crowding the Asiana Airlines gate at Beijing Capital International Airport. Many had their laptops open, since this would be their last chance to use the Internet for the next forty-eight hours. Some were pacing the floor with cell phones pressed tightly to their ears, knowing they would soon have to part with them, along with their passports. The correspondents had come from around the world for the chance to travel to the forbidden destination whose name was gleaming from the flat-screen monitors: pyongyang. Most of those gathered had never been there, and some had tried and failed repeatedly to gain access. Suddenly, cameras began clicking furiously as the 110 members of the New York Philharmonic approached the gate. Hauling instruments instead of carry-on bags, the musicians were joined by an entourage of twenty-five wealthy patrons who had paid $50,000 per person to accompany the Philharmonic into North Korea.

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SEE ALSO: Concert tours; Journeys—Korea (North); Korea (North); 2001-; New York Philharmonic; Kim, Suki

Response: February 2009, page 6

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