The Philadelphia Orchestra’s busy Friday (2^nd of June) in Mongolia’s capital — its first of two days here. Members of the first U.S. orchestra to play in massive but isolated Mongolia, the Philadelphians quietly spent the day tilling the outer musical fields.

After a midnight arrival in Ulaanbaatar, the third city on the orchestra’s 16-day Asian tour, violinist Phil Kates was up before 9 a.m. to head into the Ger District on the edge of the city to give impromptu concerts at an orphanage. Hornist Jennifer Montone and trumpeter David Bilger, both esteemed principal players, were set to give master classes at the National Defense University — yes, to members of a military band.

The orchestra’s Mongolian concerts had originally been meant as a highlight of the Asian tour but were nearly canceled when the Mongolian government, recovering from a financial crisis, couldn’t afford the full orchestra.

Thanks to $50,000 from the U.S. Department of State and other partners, Kates, Montone, and Bilger made the trip as part of an 18-member contingent for a series of small-scale concerts and master classes. Music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin reportedly wasn’t encouraged to be among them, for fear of intensifying the embarrassment over the financial crisis.

Some of the musicians, though, jumped at the chance to go to Mongolia, which is why Montone and Bilger found themselves at the guard gates of the National Defense University.