Asian Orchestra to Visit Britain
North Korean State Orchestra Approved for 2008 International Tour
The long-closed country of North Korea recently approved its orchestra's tour to England, due in part to a soccer match that took place 41 years ago.
A sign of improved international relations, cultural exchange between North Korea and the West continues to grow. Not only is North Korea open to letting the New York Philharmonic perform in its capital Pyongyang, but North Korea has also approved a world tour for its own orchestra. The North Korean State Orchestra is tentatively scheduled to perform in the UK for 10 days next September.
A Diplomatic Soccer Match
The tour is being organized by British soprano Suzannah Clarke, a Western singer who has already performed within North Korea's closed borders. Her uniquely positive relationship with the country is in part due to the warm reception the North Korean soccer team received from her hometown of Middlesbrough when the town hosted the North Korean and Italian match during the 1966 World Cup.
Exhorted by the mayor, the townsfolk surprised the Koreans with their hospitality. In 2002, the BBC released a documentary on the match called The Game of Their Lives. The filmmakers then organized a reunion of surviving soccer players in Middlesbrough, during which time Clarke performed. In 2003, she became the first British singer to appear in North Korea, and has been performing regularly in the country ever since.
The Seed of an Idea
It was on one of her North Korean visits that she heard the North Korean State Orchestra perform at the Friendship Festival in Pyongyang and decided that her home country just had to hear it. She told The Times, a London paper, that "They played a cheeky medley of tunes - Shostakovich, Mozart, as well as some of their own repertoire. It was powerful, passionate, but funny as well, and I thought, 'Gosh, British audiences would love this.' "
New Challenges
As the organizer of the North Korean State Orchestra tour, Suzannah Clarke has a challenging task ahead of her. Gaining support from the North Korean government was only the first step. Finding £350,000 (approx. $718,272.86 USD) to cover traveling and housing expenses still remains.
Diplomatically, the North Korean tour is still a delicate situation, so Clarke will also be in charge of prepping the North Koreans for experiences in Western culture. But despite the difficulties, the soprano is enthusiastic about the possibilities such a tour offers. The British will have a chance to learn just a little bit more about North Korea, and the North Koreans will get to learn just a little bit about the Western world.
Is this the beginning of another Berlin Wall crumbling? Perhaps it is too early to tell, but the increased cultural mobility between North Korea and the West has also been accompanied by promises to disable a nuclear reactor in Pyongyang.
Sources
"Soprano plans U.K. tour for North Korean State Orchestra." (Oct. 25, 2007) CBC News.
