FRANKFURT (AFP) ― The German theater director whose controversial staging of a Richard Wagner opera to a Nazi-era theme was cancelled after the premiere hit back Monday at what he saw as “censorship.”“What happened in Duesseldorf is the censorship of art. That is the real scandal,” Burkhard Kosminski told the weekly magazine Der Spiegel in an interview.Kosminski’s new reading of Wagner’s opera “Tannhaeuser” ― which set the composer’s story of the mediaeval knight-minstrel in the Nazi era and con

For even those most accustomed to the frenzy of celebrity, the Cannes Film Festival can be a disorienting experience. For 12 days every year, the French Rivera resort town turns into one giant seaside swirl of glamour, high art and backroom deal-making. Like some sun-drenched phantasm, all of cinema comes alive in Cannes: its serious ambitions, bottom-line commerce and crass spectacle. “Every time I go to Cannes, it feels like I’m entering the helicopter scene in ‘La Dolce Vita,’’’ says Leonardo

South Korean rapper Psy will perform during the final round of “American Idol Season 12” this week, his local management agency said Tuesday. Psy will perform his new hit single “Gentleman” as a special guest on the American reality singing competition being aired Thursday (American Pacific time) on Fox TV live across the United States from Los Angeles, YG Entertainment said. “Gentleman,” the follow-up to his previous global hit, “Gangnam Style,” has been viewed more than 322 million times since

With the continued global success that Psy has seen since his “Gangnam Style” music video went viral, as well as the success of Big Bang’s first world tour last year, management at the K-pop stars’ local talent agency YG Entertainment is reportedly looking to China as the next big market for its artists. As the second most profitable entertainment agency in Korea after S.M. Entertainment, YG is looking to expand internationally, trusting that China will be the next big market for K-pop. “We now

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― The Getty Museum of Los Angeles announced Thursday it has acquired a self-portrait by Rembrandt and a painting by the Venetian artist Canaletto.“Rembrandt Laughing,” a small oil on copper work probably done around 1628, came onto the art market in 2007 after spending centuries as part of private collections.It was at first attributed to contemporaries of Rembrandt, but later authenticated by the Rembrandt Research Project.The painter, then around 22, is dressed as a soldier a

LONDON (AFP) ― A work by renowned British graffiti artist Banksy that was withdrawn from a controversial U.S. auction is being put up for sale again in London, auctioneers said Saturday.The mural, called “Slave Labour,” mysteriously vanished from its original site on a wall in north London in February before appearing on an auction list in Miami later that month.The work, which shows a boy making Union Jack bunting on a sewing machine and is an apparent comment on sweat-shop labour, was pulled f