Music Director Lorin Maazel (C) conducts the New York Philharmonic during a rehearsal before their concert at the Seoul Arts Centre Feb. 28, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    NEW YORK, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- New York Philharmonic, the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States, will visit Vietnam for the first time in its 156-year history, announced the orchestra's executive director Zarin Metha here on Monday.

    The tour was announced during a presentation of the programming of Alan Gilbert, music director in charge of the Philharmonic's 2009-2010 season.

    The Philharmonic said it would also visit Abu Dhabi, whose leaders are reportedly busily importing Western culture. Abu Dhabi has a significant classical music series and plans for a new performing-arts center.

    The Philharmonic has performed in 59 countries -- including in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- but never in Vietnam or in the Middle Eastern country.

    The 2009-2010 season officially starts Sept. 16 with a gala concert featuring soprano Renee Fleming and the world premiere of a work by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg.

    "This is a country that we felt as Americans that we owed a visit to," said Metha. "We had a big war with them. The country was coming back, and we felt it was a good thing to reach out to the people there."

    The Philarmonic paid an attention-grabbing trip to the DPRK last February and the coming Honoi tour in October will be a splashy opening to Alan Gilbert's tenure as the orchestra's new music director.

    The DPRK trip created an enormous amount of public interest and provided a rare glimpse of life in that country.

    The idea to go to Vietnam, a rare stop for Western orchestras, emerged in conversations among orchestra officials after the DPRK trip. "It was so extraordinary that classical music became the center of attention," Mehta said, referring to that visit.

    "The Vietnam tour has not attracted so much attention as the North Korea's trip did just because Vietnam is already an open country, but it is still important to the Philarmonic in many ways," Metha told Xinhua after the conference.

    The Philarmonic always gives prominence to its role as a cultural ambassador.