Pianist Son Yeol-eum has been appointed Great Mountains Music Festival & School’s new artistic director.Son is the fourth artistic director of the music festival, following founder and first artistic director Kang Hyo and co-directors Chung Myung-wha and Chung Kyung-wha, who resigned from their posts in January. Pianist Son Yeol-eum, Great Mountains Music Festival & School‘s new artistic director (GMMFS)In the last year Son reportedly expressed the hope that GMMFS, originally envisioned to promo

He may be a classical star on his own but for violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill, his latest album “Duo” shows the power two musicians can create. “If I am a soloist on a stage, it’s like I am an actor delivering a monologue, and that’s very wonderful. You think of all monologues in Shakespeare, they are very profound and complete. But most stage drama has to have at least two characters,” he said during a press meeting in Seoul on Monday to promote the album. “I think this album is a great example

Korea’s two leading ballet companies, the Korean National Ballet and the Universal Ballet Company will stage one of the most romantic classic ballet works later this month and in April, respectively.The productions share the same title, but are different in their interpretations. The KNB’s “Giselle” is the 1991 French production staged at the French Opera Ballet by Patrice Bart and Eugene Polyakov. The production is acclaimed for being faithful in its interpretation of Jean Coralli and Jules Per

Internationally acclaimed Korean pianist Kim Sun-wook will perform a recital with cellist Jian Wang in Korea next month, featuring works by Romantic composers, including Chopin, Schubert and Rachmaninoff. Starting with an invitation-only concert at Samsung Concert Hall in Yongin on Friday, Kim and Wang will hold a total of five duo recitals in Korea in April.  Pianist Kim Sun-wook (Vincero)Their Seoul concert will be held Saturday at Lotte Concert Hall. This will be followed by concerts at Daeje

‘When people ask whether I am liberal or conservative, I tell them that I am an artist,’ said Muhn Baum-gong, also known as BG Muhn, an artist and professor at Georgetown University, during a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday to promote his latest publication “Pyongyang Art: The Uncovering the Complex Layers of Chosonhwa.” Dispelling any possible suspicions concerning his ideological orientation and possible ties to North Korea, Muhn emphasized that North Korean art deserves due attention f

Art Sonje Center is holding an exhibition with the aim of shedding light on the exhibition space itself, under the title of “Point Counter Point.”“Point Counter Point,” which opened on March 3, comprises works of art that specifically play with and respond to the exhibition space, which first opened some 20 years ago.“If the exhibition space has been the means to back up works of art it houses -- which is also the case in many other exhibitions -- this exhibition is more space-centric,” said Kim

Newly opened gallery spaceD9 has brought together works of distinctive artists from Korea and abroad for its inaugural exhibition, “Resonant.” “The gallery decided to name the exhibition ‘Resonant,’ in hopes that people and society could resonate through works of art,” said gallery director Na Yu-ri. SpaceD9’s “Resonant” exhibition initially took off as New York-based Hun Gallery’s “Resonant” series held between 2005 and 2009. Sohn Jung-hee‘s ceramic sculpture, “Satyr” (spaceD9)Located in the Bu

Actor Lee Min-ho on Thursday will start his four-week basic training at Korea Army Training Center in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province.The actor‘s agency MYM Entertainment on Sunday confirmed Lee will be joining basic training. The agency added that there will be no official meeting ahead of his entering the center.  Actor Lee Min-ho (MYM Entertainment)After the four-week training, Lee will return to his public service worker duty at the Suseo Social Welfare Center, where he has been serving f

The Herald Philharmonic Orchestra on Thursday held its fifth annual concert at Seoul Arts Center, with music ranging from movie scores to orchestral choral works.“I hope the visitors to concert to feel fully the breath of the upcoming spring through the Herald Philharmonic’s music,” said Namkoong Won, Honorary President of Herald Corp.  The Herald Philharmonic Orchestra held its fifth annual concert at Seoul Arts Center on Thursday. (By Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)The Herald Philharmonic Orch

Acclaimed German artist Achim Freyer will stage “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” one of Wagner’s “Gesamtkunstwerk,” -- a term coined by the composer, meaning a work of art making use of various art forms -- in Seoul over a period of nearly two years.“We finished a three-hour bauprobe (staging try-out) at the Seoul Arts Center on Monday without singers. Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” is a magnificent piece and a precious present given to us because it’s an archetype work in which its intellectual

“I am not interested in mere representation of landscapes. Instead, I have been driven to capture the state of landscape where my personal emotions are projected. It still applies to the works I am currently working on. For me, the camera has been the best means through which I can express myself. That’s perhaps why I am called a photographer,” said Lee Jung-jin during a press conference held on Tuesday for her solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Gwacheon bran

“I am always struck by the incredible nature of (the) audience here, the enthusiasm you feel not just after you perform the concert but even when you arrive on the stage. It’s wonderful to come here,” said tenor Ian Bostridge during a press conference at Sejong Center on Monday. Introduced by the orchestra’s new CEO Kang Eun-kyung at the press conference, English tenor Ian Bostridge is the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s first artist-in-residence. The tenor will start his season at the orchestra

Poet Choi Young-mi, who revealed her experience of being groped by an unnamed senior poet through her poem, on Monday reaffirmed sexual harassment allegations made against renowned poet Ko Un, who recently denied the allegations.In a statement uploaded on Facebook on Sunday, Choi said, “The statements related to the poem ‘Monster’ are facts. I will reveal the details further, when there is an official body dedicated to investigating claims of sexual wrongdoings in the arts circle here.”  Poet Ko

Korean actress Hwang Jung-eum is reportedly considering taking part in a new TV drama to be produced by SBS.According to Hwang‘s agency company C-Jes Entertainment on Friday, the actress is “positively considering” the offer to join the production of a rom-com series. SBS has also confirmed that it offered her the role.  Hwang Jung-eum /C-Jes EntertainmentHwang has been asked to take the female lead role of Yoo Jung-eum, a former platform diver. If Hwang does accept the role, it will be her firs

Heo Young-ji of the defunct girl group Kara has been in a relationship with Ha Hyun-woo of the indie-rock band Guckkasten for around six months, Heo’s agency said Thursday. The two began their relationship in the second half of last year according to DPS Media.“After meeting through mutual friends, Ha Hyun-woo and Heo Young-ki contacted each other and recently began to have feelings for one another. They are cautiously getting to know each other,” it said. Heo Young-ji’s InstagramHeo and Ha repo

Universal Ballet Company will hold its second gala premiere from Friday to Sunday. Celebrating its 34th anniversary this year, the ballet company will give special performances comprising 11 scenes from works it has produced over the years. They include major scenes from “Swan Lake,” “Onegin,” “Giselle,” “Le Corsaire,” “Don Quixote,” “The Love of Chunhyang,” “Multiplicity, Forms of Silence and Emptiness,” and Mariinsky Ballet Company’s version of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Ballet 101.”A scene from

“Now 23 years after his death, he will finally return home and find his last resting place in Tongyeong,” said Florian Riem, CEO of the Tongyeong International Music Festival, during a press conference at the Goethe-Institut in Seoul on Tuesday. The TIMF 2018 is slated to kick off on March 30, along with the reinterment ceremony for Yun I-sang scheduled on the same day. Originally developed from a concert titled “‘Night of Yun I-sang’s Music” in 1999, TIMF this year will become a special tribute

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art has selected Choi Jeong-hwa as its fifth artist for the MMCA Hyundai Motor Series. The MMCA Hyundai Motor Series is the museum’s long-term annual project launched in 2014 and sponsored by Hyundai Motor. The project is dedicated to assisting and promoting selected artists by providing them with opportunities to construct their own unique art platform and create new large-scale works. Previous participants include internationally acclaimed artists

Ilmin Museum of Art is examining different aspects of neoliberal society through “IMA Picks,” a project that comprises research-based artworks by artists in their 30s and 40s who have made significant achievements at home and abroad for more than 10 years.As part of this year’s project, Kim A-young, Lee Moon-joo, and Jung Yoon-suk are presenting solo exhibitions that showcase their ways of interpreting different phenomena embedded in neoliberal society.  Kim A-young’s “Porosity Valley” (IMA)Kim’

Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva will perform with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, led by British conductor Paul Goodwin at Lotte Concert Hall in Seoul on Thursday. Julia Lezhneva / Seoul Philharmonic OrchestraTitled “Baroque Extravaganza,” the concert features a program of Baroque and early Classical era music, including Handel‘s Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 4, as well as Recitativo “Solitudine Amate,” aria “Aure Fonti” and “Brilla Nell’Alma” from Handel‘s opera “Alessandro.” Lezhneva will also pe