The Korea Herald

Musical about Austrian empress to charm Seoul

Pop star-turned musical actress Ok Ju-hyun to star in ‘Elisabeth’After welcoming the local adaptations of Czech musical “Hamlet” and London’s West End musical “Zorro“ recently, Korea’s theater scene is seeing the arrival of another European show, this time about the real-life 19th-century legendary Austrian empress Elisabeth (1837-1898).Starring former girl group FIN.K.L. member-turned-musical actress Ok Ju-hyun, actor Song Chang-ui and K-pop group JYJ member and rising musical star Kim Jun-su,

Jan. 18, 2012

Musical about Austrian empress to charm Seoul

Facebook makes listening to music downright social

LOS ANGELES ― Everywhere you look, people are going about their lives to the tunes of their own personal soundtrack. They sweat through “YMCA” at the gym, pound out programming code to Rammstein’s brutal beats and nurse broken hearts with a mournful Bach cello concerto.In the last few decades, technology has transformed music from a social gathering experience to an intensely solitary one in which donning a pair of headphones in public is equivalent to shouting, “Leave me alone!”But in a move th

Jan. 18, 2012

‘Spider-Man’ producers punch back at Julie Taymor

NEW YORK (AP) ― Producers of Broadway’s “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’’ have fired back in their legal fight with one-time director Julie Taymor, claiming the woman who they once called a visionary later failed to fulfill her legal obligations, wrote a “disjointed’’ and “hallucinogenic’’ musical, and refused to collaborate on changes when the $75 million show was in trouble.In a countersuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Taymor and her company

Jan. 18, 2012

Rock Hall of Fame opens archives to public

CLEVELAND (AP) ― The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opened its new library and archives to the public on Tuesday to give scholars and fans access to the stories behind the music through such “artifacts’’ as personal letters from Madonna and Aretha Franklin and 1981-82 video of the Rolling Stones tour.The collection, catalogued over the last few years, includes more than 3,500 books, 1,400 audio recordings and 270 videos, and is housed in the new four-story, $12 million building.Thousands

Jan. 18, 2012

Rock Hall of Fame opens archives to public

Schoenberg collection goes to North Texas

DENTON, Texas (AP) ― Arnold Greissle-Schoenberg can still picture his grandfather, composer Arnold Schoenberg, raising his finger to command attention.“Whenever Schoenberg wanted to say something he would raise his finger and everybody would fall silent and then he would have his say,’’ said Greissle-Schoenberg, whose childhood memories include watching his grandfather holding court with other musical luminaries.The 88-year-old grandson of the famous 20th century composer remembers a side of Sch

Jan. 17, 2012

JYJ sets box office record for South America tour

Some 5,000 tickets to Korean boy band JYJ’s upcoming tour of South America sold out in less than two days, breaking the record for foreign artists, the group’s agent said Monday. “We began selling the tickets last Thursday (Jan. 12) for the tour in South America and the seats were sold out in two days,” C-JeS Entertainment said in a press release. It was reported that some fans camped overnight to buy VIP tickets for seats closer to the stage. Peru’s El Comerico news published an article stating

Jan. 16, 2012

JYJ sets box office record for South America tour

American art takes the stage at the Louvre

PARIS (AP) ― American tourists fill the galleries of the Louvre Museum, yet American art is surprisingly scarce.Paris’ premier museum and three U.S. art institutions are seeking to change that with an exhibit tracing the birth of American landscape painting and its influences.“As soon as I arrived at the Louvre, I noticed that American art was not displayed at the level it merits,’’ said Louvre director Henri Loyrette.Even the exhibit’s English-French melange of a name breaks tradition: It’s cal

Jan. 16, 2012

‘Our home’ captured from above

French aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand showcases beautiful views of EarthLiving in the urban jungle, occupied with trivial, everyday matters, rarely do we realize how many grand and beautiful things we overlook. French aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand reminds us of what we have been missing out on through photos of different landscapes that are so mystical that they seem almost fictional. At his first-ever solo exhibition here titled “Earth from Above ― It’s My Home,” currently

Jan. 16, 2012

Gugak can heal, inspire: Lee Tong-bok

National Gugak Center’s new director seeks blend of Korean music with other artsIt’s been almost two months since the National Gugak Center’s new director and scholar Lee Tong-bok took office. The position might have been a challenging one for Lee, a professor at Kyungpook National University in Daegu since 1984. Yet he says it’s as if he has returned home.“I was a performing member of the National Gugak Center from 1979 to 1982,” Lee told The Korea Herald at the institution on Wednesday. “So it

Jan. 15, 2012

Lopez, Anthony promoting new project

PASADENA, California (AP) ― Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were together again on Saturday ― at least to promote their new project.The stars, who announced last summer they were ending their marriage after seven years, appeared on a stage Saturday to talk briefly about a new music series they are doing together. “Q’Viva! The Chosen’’ premieres on Univision on Jan. 28.Anthony reached down to offer his hand and help Lopez climb three stairs to the stage, and later admired the four sparkling rings

Jan. 15, 2012

Calendar

Theater“Park Wan-suh: Read by Actors”: Four of the celebrated late author Park Wan-suh’s literary works are currently being staged as theatrical plays in Daehangno, Seoul. The four featured novellas ― “For Solitude,” “Mother and Daughter Tea Time,” “You and the Eight Hats” and “The Pasqueflower of the Combative Days” ― are recited in their entirety by one actor throughout the show, while the other actors and actresses act out what’s happening in the narrative at the same time. The short stories

Jan. 13, 2012

Blue Ivy Carter becomes youngest ever on Billboard

In this Jan. 11, 2009 file photo, Beyonce, left, is joined by husband Jay-Z, as she arrives at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California (AP)NEW YORK (AP) _ She's not even a week old, but Blue Ivy Carter is already making music history.Billboard says that thanks to her dad, Ja

Jan. 13, 2012

Blue Ivy Carter becomes youngest ever on Billboard

Damien Hirst connects the dots in global exhibit

NEW YORK (AFP) ― British artist and self-marketing genius Damien Hirst looks to connect the dots in a big way with the opening Thursday of a global show for his body of colored spot paintings.The Gagosian Gallery network, with 11 locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong, has been turned over entirely to Hirst’s geometric blizzard of round spots.At a media preview Wednesday in one of the New York galleries, Damien Hirst posed for photographs and spent

Jan. 12, 2012

Exhibition sheds new light on Joseon Dynasty paintings

Hakgojae Gallery presents orchid, bamboo paintings in New Year celebrationsHazy moonlight shimmers on a tranquil bamboo forest. The bamboo, so upright and leafy, seem to be swaying gently in the night breeze, but never losing grip completely. Haegang Gim Gyu-jin’s ten-fold-screen depicts a sentimental yet calm night that invites viewers into a moment of fantasy. Bamboo and orchids were some of the subjects highly favored by Joseon Dynasty artists and scholars, including Gim, to feature in their

Jan. 12, 2012

Exhibition sheds new light on Joseon Dynasty paintings

Korean-initiated int‘l art fair to launch in Hong Kong in May

HONG KONG (Yonhap) -- A South Korean-led international art fair will open in Hong Kong in May, in a bid to provide a platform where participants in the art industry can meet and exchange views, organizers said Wednesday.The Hong Kong Contemporary art fair, arranged by Moon Eun-myung, a South Korean art dealer operating in the special administrative region, will run from May 17 through 20.The event will take place alongside the city’s renowned Hong Kong International Art Fair and the Christie‘s A

Jan. 11, 2012

Virtuoso pianist Weissenberg dies

PARIS (AFP) ― Bulgarian-born French concert pianist Alexis Weissenberg, considered one of the great classical music performers of the 20th century, has died aged 82.After suffering from Parkinson’s disease for 30 years, Weissenberg died on Sunday in Lugano, Switzerland, Paris Orchestra artistic director Didier de Cottignies said.“A virtuoso musician and a big-hearted man who spared no effort to cultivate new generations of piano players has left us,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov s

Jan. 10, 2012

Picasso and Mondrian paintings stolen in Greece

ATHENS (AP) ― Thieves carried out a well-organized, pre-dawn heist at Greece’s biggest state art museum on Monday, taking two oil paintings by 20th century masters Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian, police said.A police statement said the burglars who entered through a balcony door also took a pen and ink drawing of a religious scene by Italian 16th century painter Guglielmo Caccia. It said a fourth work by Mondrian also was removed from the National Art Gallery in one of the best-guarded areas of

Jan. 10, 2012

Arirang English FM to begin airing in U.S.

Korea’s English-language radio station Arirang Radio will this week begin airing its programs in all U.S. areas, the company said Tuesday.The English-language radio service will begin at midnight Thursday (U.S. eastern time) for listeners in all 50 U.S. states through SiriusXM Radio, America’s satellite radio company, said the Korea International Broadcasting Foundation, the operator of the Arirang radio station, in a statement.The radio’s seven regular programs on Korean culture and tourism wil

Jan. 10, 2012

Song Hye-kyo funds MoMA Korean guidebook

Actress Song Hye-kyo has fully funded the publication of a new Korean handbook for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, according to a Korea promotion expert.Actress Song Hye-kyo(right) and Korea PR expert Seo Kyoung-duk (Yonhap News)Song, one of the most popular Korean actresses who also starred i

Jan. 10, 2012

Song Hye-kyo funds MoMA Korean guidebook

Picasso stolen from Athens' National Gallery

A Pablo Picasso painting gifted to Greece by the Spanish-born master was stolen from Athens' National Gallery early Monday with two other important artworks, prompting scorn from the Greek police minister. In this June 30, 2011 handout file photo provided by the Greek police shows a 1939 female

Jan. 10, 2012

Picasso stolen from Athens' National Gallery