New York Philharmonic in North Korea

Congratulations to the New York Philharmonic on undertaking a tour to North Korea. Terry Teachout offers an insightful criticism of the trip in which he observes that it may fall error to one of the traps of cultural diplomacy: appearing to lend support to a despicable regime rather than instigating a genuine dialogue that will hopefully feed local aspirations towards liberty. This is indeed a concern, but if the Philharmonic projects its message right by setting its performance in context (and if it is allowed to do so), it will have achieved a coup in cultural diplomacy by holding aloft music as a beacon of freedom and open communication to a country long deprived of both.