The Blue Man Group, a nonverbal stage show that blends art, technology, music and comedy, finally returns to South Korea after a pandemic-induced delay, marking their first time back since 2008. The show “that is not meant to be taken too seriously” will provide a pleasure and fun to Korean audiences as the three bald and blue characters with a special vision explore the world without words. Th...

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Wednesday said that it has appointed pianist and professor Chang Hyoung-joon as the new president of the Seoul Arts Center. Starting Friday, Chang will lead the country’s top art complex for the next three years. Born in 1962, Chang received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. He has been teaching piano...

Tuesday‘s event was hosted by the Corea Image Communication Institute, and participants included French Ambassador Philippe Lefort, UK Ambassador Colin Crooks, Swiss Ambassador Dagmar Schmidt, Greek Ambassador Ekaterini Loupas and Kim Won-Soo, chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Future Consensus Institute. (gypark@heraldcorp.com)

Stagnant ‘K-musicals’ Perhaps aiming for a global stage back in 2007 was going too fast at the time. It was less than 10 years after the first licensed musical was introduced, and South Korea’s musical industry was still growing. Now, Park believes Korea’s musical industry, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the revenue generated in the performing arts sector in the country, has great p...

The bold backdrop and extravagant costumes that portray the Belle Epoque and the theatrical setting provide great visual pleasure. Two actors lead the musical as Mata Hari -- Ok Joo-hyun, who appeared in the previous two productions in 2016 and 2017, and Solar of K-pop girl group Mamamoo, who makes her debut as an actor in a musical with “Mata Hari.” Armand, a French pilot and Mata Hari’s lov...

A Korean Australian writer’s novel for young adults takes inspiration from an educator and independence activist who spent much of his life in exile in the early 1900s. The book, titled “The Young Resistance and Korean Language School,” gives us a look at Li Mirok -- a writer and educator who is perhaps known better in Germany, where he spent rest of his life since 1922. Li published several bo...

”Smart,“ ”unique” multiple casting Along with Jeon, two other actors -- Yoon Gong-joo and Kim Soo-ha -- take on the role of the musical’s namesake, a concept exclusive to Korea and Japan. This unique style of casting was initially a novel concept to both Corea and Jeon. With the revolving door of actors, audiences can experience a unique version of “Aida” nearly every night. This gives a renewe...

Up-and-coming cellist Choi Ha-young has won the Queen Elisabeth Competition for the cello, becoming the first South Korean cellist to receive the top honor at one of the most demanding contests in the world. The 24-year-old cellist was announced as the winner of the competition at the awards ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, on Saturday after the final round of 12 contestants including three other ...

The Seoul International Book Fair, the country‘s largest book event, kicks off Wednesday at Coex in southeastern Seoul. The annual book fair will run from Wednesday to Sunday, with a total of 196 companies including 18 foreign companies and 214 speakers expected to join the event. This year’s event takes place after two years of scaled-down editions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the theme...

When the grand opening of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games unfolded, it wowed viewers with various spectacular scenes, including 1,217 drones in the air and hundreds of South Korean snowboarders in light-emitting jumpsuits who slid down the slopes with the drones flashing above them. There was also a controversial feature: Inmyeonjo, a mythological bird with a human face that often appears in a...

Park Chang-woo, founder and CEO of multichannel networking firm Soon Ent, said businesses should not misunderstand TikTok and must grab opportunities the platform presents. Speaking at The Korea Herald’s Global Business Forum on Wednesday, Park emphasized that TikTok, a short-form video hosting service owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is more than an alternative to video-streaming juggernaut ...

Violinist Yang In-mo became the first South Korean to win the top prize at the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition on Sunday, yet another crowning achievement for the Paganini competition winner. The top honor came with a cash prize of 30,000 euros ($32,000) and a loan of a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin made in 1772. In addition, the Sibelius family awarded Yang a prize of 2,000...

Despite the short period of time given to her and the team, inspiration was never in short supply. “After Wihwado Retreat came up at a meeting, I had a constant stream of inspiration for two months,” Oh said. Wihwado Retreat of 1388 is a pivotal historical event in which Gen. Yi Seong-gye, retreated from Wihwa Island against the order of his Goryeo king and returned to the capital Kaesong, trig...

The 12th edition of Ballet Festival Korea will be held with 26 performances in June, the organizing committee said Tuesday, with Seoul Arts Center as the co-organizer. Under the theme of “Open Up the New Ordinary Days,” the festival will showcase old and new ballet productions by both established and emerging dancers from June 9-29. Some of the highlights include the opening performance, “Ahn J...

Gurzenich Orchester Koln will be performing in South Korea for the first time in five years, this time with violinist Clara-Jumi Kang as the soloist, according to production company Vincero. Led by conductor Francois-Xavier Roth who has helmed the orchestra since 2015, the 195-year-old orchestra will perform at Seoul Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on July 8. Outside of Seoul, the team will bring the s...