Sejong Center's Sync Next stretches from teen composer to 50-year veteran

This summer's lineup at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, which the center bills as its most contemporary season yet, has it all: from a teen composer and a singer entering his 50th year onstage, to French medieval song, Korean mask dance and K-pop. The youngest, Lee Hanurij, is a 19-year-old classical composer who has claimed top prizes at international competitions. Lee reconstructs the folk tale "The Three Little Pigs" into a music-driven stage work on Aug. 15-17. Veteran Kim Chang-w

2026-07-02 13:39:03:00

Namwon's Gwanghallu Pavilion named a national treasure

The Korea Heritage Service designated Gwanghallu Pavilion in Namwon, North Jeolla Province, as a national treasure on Wednesday — its highest heritage tier. The move comes 63 years after the pavilion was first listed as a treasure in 1963. Gwanghallu is best known as the setting of "Chunhyangjeon," or "The Story of Chunhyang," the classic Korean novel and pansori tale of lovers Chunhyang and Yi Mong-ryong. Built as a government pavilion in the Joseon era (1392-1910), it was a place where officia

2026-07-01 17:35:17:00

Classic Revolution traces classical music to its folk roots

Classic Revolution, the annual summer classical music festival organized by Lotte Concert Hall, will trace the canon back to its folk roots this year, gathering some of the world's busiest performers under the theme "Origin: From Folk to Classic." From Aug. 28 to Sept. 4, the festival presents seven concerts, balancing orchestral programs with chamber music and solo recitals. Greek violinist and conductor Leonidas Kavakos returns as artistic director for a second year, after leading last year's

2026-06-30 14:40:57:00

Koreans kept it local in 2025 as domestic tourism rebounds

Koreans took more domestic trips, traveled for longer and spent more doing so last year, reversing a yearlong dip, with growth concentrated in provincial regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday. The 2025 National Travel Survey found that 97 percent of Koreans took at least one domestic trip in 2025, up 1.6 percentage points from 2024. They made 300.9 million domestic trips spanning 472.5 million days and spent 39.5 trillion won ($25.5

2026-06-30 11:42:49:00

Culture Ministry to launch special audit of Korea Football Association

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will conduct a special audit of the Korea Football Association to determine the causes behind what it called the dismal failures of Korean soccer, Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young said in a social media post Monday. The ministry will form an investigative committee including outside experts to examine the incompetence, mismanagement and complacency the association has shown, Chae wrote. If the inquiry uncovers irregularities, misconduct or unlawful acts

2026-06-29 18:05:09:00

When sound meets light: Yang In-mo and Kimchi and Chips

When the GS Arts Center approached digital art duo Kimchi and Chips last year with a proposal to collaborate with a classical violinist, the artists were hesitant. The timeline was tight, but the heavier weight was the prospect of fusing two art forms so different in texture. That unease lifted, the duo says, the moment it first sat down with violinist Yang In-mo. "We had no idea where the journey of this collaboration would end up," the duo said in a recent email interview, "but talking with Ya

2026-06-29 13:47:23:00

Culture ministry names first female spokesperson in 36-year history

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday that it had appointed its first female spokesperson. Im Young-ah, 52, currently the ministry's sports cooperation officer, has been appointed to the director-general-level post effective Monday. It is the first time a woman has held the spokesperson role since the ministry's predecessor, the Ministry of Culture, was launched in 1990. A Seoul native, Im graduated from Ewha Womans University with a degree in law and entered public service in

2026-06-28 11:00:35:00

Two summer festivals, two routes into the season's classical music

Roughly 450 kilometers separate Daehangno in the heart of Seoul from Jeju Island off the southern coast. This summer, two music festivals — modest in public profile but firm in their convictions — return to those two places, linked this year by a common banner. Both are part of 2026 ARKO SUM FESTA, a brand run by Arts Council Korea (ARKO) that connects 15 theater, dance, music and traditional-arts festivals selected for its national performing-arts festival support program. Staged across the cou

2026-06-24 11:10:19:00

How a Korean 'Turandot' traveled to Europe and came home a decade on

When the 20th Daegu International Musical Festival raised its curtains on June 19, it opened with a homecoming. The festival's flagship production — a musical reimagining of Giacomo Puccini's opera "Turandot" — returned to the stage for the first time in seven years, this time refracted through the European staging it inspired abroad. DIMF first premiered "Turandot" in 2011, as the opening work of the festival's fifth edition. The reception was bruising. "When we first unveiled 'Turandot' 15 yea

2026-06-19 22:31:59:00

Matthias Goerne, Sunwoo Yekwon, to bring Schubert’s 'Winterreise' to Seoul stage

German baritone Matthias Goerne and Korean pianist Sunwoo Yekwon join forces Sunday for a piece they each fell in love with: Schubert’s “Winterreise.” The two will perform the song cycle at Lotte Concert Hall in a concert organized by the Hansae Yes24 Foundation as its second classical music performance. After presenting its inaugural “Winterreise in Summer” in September 2024, the foundation chose to offer the same program again because of the significance the work carries, according to Baek Soo

2026-06-18 14:32:56:00