Conductor Kim Bong-mee leads the Herald Philharmonic Orchestra during its concert performance at the Seoul Arts Center last year. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Following its win at last year’s 8th Korea Opera Awards, the Herald Philharmonic Orchestra will be taking the stage at the upcoming “Golden Opera Gala Concert” on Feb. 22. The gala concert is being held as part of the Korea Opera Awards and will stage performances by all of last year’s winners. The Herald Phil was honored with an arts a

Former Clon member and popular local electronic dance music icon DJ Koo (Koo Jun-yup) has been picked as the music director at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games’ second round of test events. “We have selected Koo Jun-yup as the music director at the upcoming ‘2016 FIS Freestyle Ski-Snowboard World Cup’ second test event from the 18th to 28th at the Bokwang Phoenix Park in PyeongChang,” said PyeongChang Organizing Committee President Cho Yang-ho, in a press release Sunday. 

A classical music craze has swept over the country ever since young pianist Cho Seong-jin’s historic win at last year’s International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. He is the first Korean ever to win the prestigious title and his win has helped revive classical music here. Costa Pilavachi, senior vice president of classical artists & repertoire for Universal Music International Group, is among those looking to capitalize on the current buzz in the classical music scene. “Korea is a hot place

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said that a scan of his torso conducted last week found no signs of melanoma, the serious form of cancer that doctors discovered last summer in his liver and brain, but he will continue treatment on February 9th. A previous brain scan found that four cancerous lesions were gone with no new evidence of new cancer cells, Carter said in December. Carter spoke on the phone to South Sudan from London where he is speaking about his campaign against Guinea worm diseas

While North Korea is thumbing its nose at the international community by announcing a planned test of a long-range rocket following last month's nuclear test, China, the North's key economic and diplomatic lifeline, acknowledged on Wednesday that it can't thwart the looming launch. North Korea's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 came nearly four months after Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party's fifth-ranked leader, held talks with the North's leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. The talks between

President Park Geun-hye renewed her calls Wednesday for the parliamentary passage of a set of bills meant to revitalize South Korea's economy."The urgent thing is to pass" the bills, Park said in a meeting with the heads of small and medium-sized companies in an industrial zone near Seoul.She also asked two ruling party lawmakers, whose districts are home to the industrial zone, to appeal to their fellow lawmakers to pass the bills.Last month, Park joined a signature-collecting campaign calling

The following article was contributed by the Embassy of Sri Lanka. – Ed.Sri Lanka and the Republic of Korea enjoy longstanding friendly relations and historical bonds based on Buddhist cultural links spanning centuries.  Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Korea in 1977, there has been steady expansion of bilateral relations in the political, economic and cultural spheres.  In terms of high-level visits, a presidential visit from Sri Lanka to Korea took place in

DES MOINES, Iowa - The US presidential race looked suddenly wide open Tuesday after frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton suffered chastening evenings in Iowa, the first step on the long road to the White House.It was a particularly humbling experience for Trump, who cut a forlorn figure after Republican arch-rival Ted Cruz streaked to victory in the Iowa caucuses, staking his claim as the new standard bearer for the conservative camp going on to New Hampshire. And if Clinton was in any

Despite the dark clouds gathering over Korea’s economy, its sovereign ratings are at the highest levels on record, data shows. Standard & Poor’s, one of the world’s big three credit ratings agencies, on Wednesday decided to maintain Korea’s rating at AA-, the fourth highest level in its evaluation scheme, with an outlook of “stable.” A stable outlook means the rating is most likely to stay at the same level for the time being. An AA-, the highest rating given to Korea, is where the country was b

In a short span of time, pianist Cho Seong-jin has risen from an unknown musician to a household name in Korea who shatters classical music records. His popularity has grown since he won the highest prize at the prestigious International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition last October. “It’s been almost a year since I’ve been back in Korea and I’m both anxious and happy to be back,” said Cho, during a press conference at the Seoul Arts Center on Monday, just hours after he arrived back to Seoul.“

A scene from the Korean play “Come to See Me,” which is on an open-run at the Myeongdong Theater until Feb. 21. (Pro’s LAB)In 1986, the quiet rural town of Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, was left in horror when a young local woman was found bound, raped and murdered in a ditch near a grassy field. At the time, no one could have predicted that the victim was only the first of what is estimated to be 10 woman killed over a five-year period at the hands of Korea’s most notorious serial killer -- who

The number of global hallyu fan club members surpassed 35 million across 86 countries last year, up from 21.8 million in 2014, according to new data from the Korea Foundation Tuesday. There were a total of 1,493 official hallyu fan clubs worldwide, a 21 percent increase from 2014 when there were 1,229 clubs.  A total of 26.21 million fan club members were reported in Asia-Pacific -- a 48 percent increase from 2014. The Americas had 7.58 million fans, a staggering 182 percent rise from 2014 to 20

 A prosecutor overly reliant on using his fists in the name of justice and a corrupt politician looking to take advantage of that hot temperament -- the underlying premise of director Lee Il-hyeong’s newest flick, “A Violent Prosecutor,” may appear grim on the surface, but do not be fooled. The prison comedy doles out its fair share of laugh-out-loud moments.The film stars the contrasting combo of the stoic-faced Hwang Jung-min as Seoul district prosecutor Byun Jae-uk and Gang Dong-won as the sl

Fans of ’70s pop music will soon have a chance to indulge their nostalgia as stars Olivia Newton-John and Tom Jones are set to hold concerts in Korea at Seoul Olympic Park in May and April, respectively.It has taken a long time for both musicians to return to Korea -- 16 and 33 years, respectively, for Newton-John and Jones.Olivia Newton-John (Official Facebook)Newton-John, a four-time Grammy award-winner recording five No. 1 and ten other Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles, will perform old favor

Adding fuel to the thriving electronica music craze in Korea, international electronic dance music phenom Zedd kick-started this year’s Hyundai Card “5 Nights” concert series with his solo performance at the AX-Korea stadium Friday night. Dance music fan or not, it would be hard to come across a music lover who has never once listened to a Zedd collaboration. Since his U.S. debut in 2012, the young artist has become one of the music world’s most popular mainstream DJs.A visual concert if there e

Near the shopping district of Myeong-dong, cultural street of Insa-dong and Gwanghwamun in downtown Seoul, Lotte City Hotel Myeongdong seeks to “kill two birds with one stone.”Launched as Lotte Hotels & Resorts’ biggest Lotte City Hotel brand hotel in Myeong-dong Jan. 6, the “premium business hotel” aims to attract both business travelers and foreign tourists to Seoul’s well-known travel sites.With 430 rooms, including 140 Superior Double-Bed rooms and 70 Standard Double-Bed rooms, the hotel is

Director of the World Jewelry Museum Lee Kang-won remembers vividly an Ethiopian woman she saw 37 years ago in the corner of a local market in Addis Ababa. The woman, dressed in a white cotton dress, was wearing a meticulously detailed, “ultramodern looking” silver necklace. Her necklace captivated Lee, who had just arrived in the country. “Her necklace was breathtaking,” said Lee, in an interview last month at the museum in Hwa-dong near Samcheong-dong.Lee Kang-won, director of the World Jewelr

Malcolm "Gomer" Lloyd, the South Korean national bobsleigh team coach, has died days before he was to join his South Korean team in the U.S. for an international competition. He was 68.Lloyd died at his Canadian home on Sunday, and investigations showed he had been suffering from cancer, according to BBC and the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF).He had been scheduled to join the South Korean team on Saturday for the 2015-2016 IBSF World Cup in Lake Placid, New York."We receive

A group of elderly Filipino women raped by Japanese troops during World War II called for compensation from Japan on Wednesday, following Tokyo's pledge of $8.3 million for South Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during the war. The women's lawyers said they were also exploring the possibility of filing cases with United Nations bodies and holding Philippine President Benigno Aquino III liable for allegedly failing to support the case of the women against Japan. Isabelita V

Turkish police have seized over 1,200 unsafe life jackets destined for use by migrants trying to reach Greece by sea, in a raid on an underground workshop that used Syrian underage labour, a report said Wednesday.The authorities seized 1,263 life jackets that failed to correspond to safety standards in the raid on the workshop in the centre of Izmir, a city on the Aegean Sea, the Dogan news agency said.Izmir is a major hub for refugees and migrants seeking to make the risky crossing in flimsy bo