When violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill on Wednesday announced the program for the upcoming 11th Ditto Festival in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, a city some 30 kilometers from Seoul, he did so in front of an unusually sparse audience -- less than a handful of reporters.Ansan, while not the best place in terms of accessibility, holds a special place in O'Neill’s heart.”Ansan is the most familiar to me as I spent so much time here when we were filming ‘Hello?! Orchestra.’ In 2012, I was here constantly,

Performance May 31, 2018

Pianist Kim Sun-wook and violinist Guy Braunstein have teamed up to perform Brahms violin sonatas in Korea this week.Braunstein was the youngest person to be appointed concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic in 2000. He held the position for 13 years until he retired from the post at the end of the 2012-13 season to pursue solo activities.  Pianist Kim Sun-wook (Vincero) Violinist Guy Braunstein (Vincero)As a soloist, Braunstein has performed with acclaimed musicians, including conductors Sir S

Performance May 29, 2018

Great Mountains Music Festival & School -- originally envisioned to promote the PyeongChang Olympics -- has set out to go beyond just outliving the Olympic Games.Festival artistic director and pianist Son Yeol-eum and Gangwon Art & Culture Foundation Chairman Kim Sung-hwan announced the summer festival’s program, as well as future plans at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday.The music festival will continue to hold winter concerts, while keeping the 15-year tradition of the summer music festi

Performance May 29, 2018

Celebrated violinist Joshua Bell will conduct and perform with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Seoul on Thursday at the Seoul Arts Center, marking his first visit to Korea as the music director of the chamber orchestra and the second visit with the ASMF since 2010. 　Together with the orchestra, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, Bell will perform a wide range of classical music, from Baroque to Romantic and contemporary.   Joshua Bell, violinist and the music director of

Performance May 28, 2018

Kim Whan-ki’s 1972 panting “3-II-72 #220” was sold for 8.5 billion won ($7.87 million) at Seoul Auction’s Hong Kong sale Sunday, topping all previous auction records set by Korean artworks, the auction house said.The sale of “3-II-72 #220” also broke the record set last year by another of the celebrated Korean abstract painter’s works, “Tranquility 5-Ⅳ-73 #310,” a painting that features blue dots and a white-edged square. “Tranquility 5-Ⅳ-73 #310” fetched a record-high price of 6.55 billion won

Arts & Design May 28, 2018

A local entertainment agency on Friday terminated its contract with singer-songwriter MoonMoon after it was revealed he was convicted of a spycam crime.  MoonMoon (Yonhap)The official statement released by MoonMoon‘s former agency, House of Music, came right after a local news report revealed the previous charge against the singer. According to the local news report, MoonMoon was charged for secretly filming in a public bathroom in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in August 2016. He was then sentenced to a tw

Performance May 25, 2018

Changwon Sculpture Biennale this year will attempt to make sculptures more relatable to the audience. Under the title of “The Balance of Non-Sculpting,” Changwon’s sculpture festival features sculptures and installation works by some 70 artists from 13 countries. The biennale runs from Sept. 4 to Oct. 14.“In the past, sculpture parks put a distance between the viewers and sculptures, forcing and obligating viewers to revere the artworks like shrines,” said Youn Bum-mo, artistic director and chai

Arts & Design May 23, 2018

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s new CEO Kang Eun-kyung said that the orchestra is considering six candidates for the position of artistic director, raising the possibility that the once embattled orchestra may be able to appoint a new artistic leader by the end of the year.  Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Kang Eun-kyung speaks at a press conference at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)“The orchestra has recently initiated discussions over a six-candidate l

Performance May 23, 2018

Korean contemporary dancer and choreographer Ahn Eun-me will premiere her interpretation of North Korean dance in Seoul next month.Under the title of “North Korea Dance by Eun-me Ahn,” Ahn reimagines traditional Korean dance, in particular that of North Korea. Korean contemporary dancer Ahn Eun-me rehearses “North Korea Dance by Eun-me Ahn” at the Korea National University of Arts on May 14. (Korean Traditional Performing Arts Foundation)“I hope this work offers us opportunities to rethink what

Performance May 22, 2018

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer‘s solo exhibition at Amorepacific Museum of Art is an exhibition that brings tangible technologies to the fore. From his early works to his latest, Hemmer plays with various technologies, such as surveillance systems, voice recognition, fingerprint scanner and algorithms to allow the viewers to more easily relate to the technologies that have already become ubiquitous.Numerous technologies have already become part of our language, and there is nothing new about his works, He

Arts & Design May 21, 2018

BTS’ third full-length album “‘Love Yourself: Tear” was shipped out earlier than scheduled due to a mistake by the US-based shipping company.  BTS (Big Hit Entertainment)According to BTS‘ agency company Big Hit Entertainment, American commerce company Amazon made a shipping mistake with BTS‘ new album scheduled to be released at 6 p.m. local time, Friday. The case was found as individual fans started to upload images of the boy band‘s physical album on their social media pages saying that they s

Performance May 18, 2018

Mina of the girl group Gugudan has joined the cast of the upcoming TV drama series “Gyeryong Fairy Tale.” Gugudan member Mina (Jellyfish Entertainment)Based on a well-known webtoon of the same title, “Gyeryong Fairy Tale” is a series that revolves around seonnyeo -- women who appear in Korean folklore and who live in heaven. In the series, actress Moon Chae-won plays a seonnyeo who tries to find her husband. Mina will play the daughter of the seonnyeo. In the story, the daughter reunites with he

Television May 17, 2018

Network broadcaster MBC on Wednesday said the producers of a controversial episode of its entertainment show “Omniscient” had no intention of offending the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster with the use of news footage of the accident.The committee formed on May 9 to conduct an internal audit over the entertainment show’s use of news clips and a word regarding the Sewol ferry disaster made the announcement during a press conference held at the network’s headquarters located in Sangam-dong, wes

Television May 17, 2018

The 2018 Seoul Spring Festival of Chamber Music will continue to highlight various chamber music pieces, including those that are less well known.Starting Tuesday, the Seoul-based chamber music festival will run until May 27, featuring a total of 16 concerts at venues including Seoul Arts Center, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and the preserved traditional Korean house of former President Yun Bo-sun in Anguk-dong. Violinist and the artistic director of the SSF Kang Dong-suk speaks during

Performance May 15, 2018

Ha Ji-won has agreed to become a full-time cast member of a new tvN sci-fi series, according to her agency on Friday. Ha Ji-won (Yonhap)TvN’s new sci-fi reality show is designed to bring viewers information regarding Mars. The cast will visit the Mars Desert Research Station in the US state of Utah to film in June. The station offers a simulated Mars environment and space missions for Earth-based research. Girl group Gugudan’s Kim Se-jung and well-known celebrity explorer of “Law of the Jungle”

Television May 11, 2018