In summer 2007 the New York Philharmonic received an invitation that was unprecedented in the orchestra's history. North Korea, the world's most isolated and secluded country and technically at war with the United States, invited the orchestra to play in the capital of Pyongyang. Just a few months later, two hundred orchestra members and more than one hundred journalists disembarked from a chartered plane at Pyongyang's deserted airport. They were about to experience a historic moment, the first-ever performance by an American orchestra in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

2008年2月，纽约爱乐乐团历史性地首次访问朝鲜人民共和国，作为第一支西方交响乐团，在东平壤大剧院举行音乐会，洛林·马泽尔执棒，演奏了德沃夏克、伯恩斯坦、格什温的作品，以朝鲜民谣《阿里郎》向听众告别。