Doing Carnegie Hall

For the first time ever an orchestra from Vietnam has performed in the United States.

The Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1959 at the insistence of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, gave concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall Oct. 23 and Boston Symphony Hall Oct. 24 under the direction of Tetsuji Honna, a Japanese conductor who has worked with the orchestra for 10 years.

Honna told Kyodo News it has been the orchestra’s “dream” to play in the U.S. in order to promote friendship between the two countries.

Among the pieces the VNSO performed was Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” which was made famous by the Oliver Stone film, “Platoon.”

It has also been used in memorial services for the victims of Sept. 11 and the VNSO is dedicating its performance to the victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Honna is from Fukushima Prefecture, one of the areas hardest hit by the disaster.

The VNSO is famous for having played for North Vietnam soldiers at the front lines during the war with the U.S. that ended in 1975.

Following the war, the orchestra barely performed due to lack of finances.

In the 1990s, however, another Japanese conductor, Yoshikazu Fukumaru, helped it through a period of rehabilitation.