The oldest U.S. orchestra is trying to pierce North Korea’s isolation, using the power of music. Through a historic concert, performed by the New York Philarmonic, the two countries will try to resolve their standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

The Philarmonic is the most important cultural grooup that has traveled to North Korea since th peninsula’s division after World War II. The orchestra will perform Tuesday evening at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater in a concert  which will be televised internationally and live inside the North Korea.

Founded in 1842 by a group of local musicians led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill, the New York Philarmonic currently plays some 180 concerts a year. On December 18, 2004, the Philharmonic gave its 14,000th concert — a milestone unmatched by any other orchestra in the world.

"Our hope is to bring this great music to as many people living there as possible, people who may not otherwise be exposed to such a performance, and touch their lives in the way that this music so often touches ours," Philharmonic President Zarin Mehta stated this week, according to The Associated Press.

The concert is a diplomatic trial of U.S. to end the standoff with North Korea, after Pyongyang's October 2006 nuclear test, which confirmed that the country was nuclear-armed.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said Wednesday that U.S. tries to show North Korea that Washington has no hostile intentions, as Pyongyang claimed several times.

"Sometimes the North Koreans don't like our words; maybe they'll like our music," he said in Seoul.

The concert’s audience will consist of the capital’s elite, but it is not yet known whether North Korean leader Kim Jong II will be present.  As a custom for a traveling orchestra, the New York Philarmonic will perform the national anthems of the host country, North Korea, and of the United States. The concert will begin with Richard Wagner’s prelude to Act 3 of „Lohengrin” and will end with George Gershwin’s „An American in Paris”.

Image Credit: New York Philarmonic