In early 2008, I was working on the New York Philharmonic’s concert in Pyongyang, a project conceived to enhance the atmosphere of the six-party talks on the denuclearization of North Korea. At the time, observers and even many of the musicians themselves questioned whether any potential good would come of the effort. I think the end of the North Korea story is not yet written. Mr. Barenboim formed the orchestra with his longtime friend and intellectual partner, the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, who died in 2003. I arranged the first U.S. visit of the orchestra, which brings young Israeli, Palestinian and other Arab musicians together to make music.

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Persons: Madeleine Albright’s, Dvorak, Gershwin, reminisced, Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Barenboim, Barenboim, Edward Said Organizations: York, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Divan, Mr Locations: Pyongyang, North Korea, North Koreans, Soviet Union, Korea, Buenos Aires, London, United States, West, Palestinian, U.S