On June 19, 2016, Lahav Shani made his debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as conductor of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique." Two months later, he was appointed as the chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to lead it as its youngest conductor from September 2018. On the same date this year, Shani will lead the orchestra to perform the Symphony “Pathetique” for a Korean audience -- the symphony with which he made his first encounte

South Korean crime action franchise “The Roundup: No Way Out” starring Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, has become the fourth-highest-grossing film globally by raking in $25.3 million in ticket sales just 10 days after the movie’s opening. According to global box office ranking data aggregator comScore, the third installment of the Korean action franchise ranked fourth globally as of Wednesday. The film has opened not only in South Korean theaters but also in Hong Kong, Mac

Tomorrow X Together will drop a digital single in July, according to a local media report on Thursday. Label Big Hit Music confirmed that it is preparing to release a new song next month, following the report. The single comes about six months after its fifth EP “The Name Chapter: Temptation” that debuted atop the Billboard 200, a first for the band. The mini album is staying on the chart for 18 weeks in a row, the longest run for the quintet, tying the record BTS set for a K-pop ma

The New Six, also known as TNX, returned with their third mini album, “BOYHOOD,” which has a 1990s vibe through and through from the concept photos to their dance moves for the title track, “Kick It 4 Now.” “For this Y2K-inspired album, we looked into a lot of reference clips. Then we found pop duo Deux’s music video for their track ‘In Summer’ and we studied it a lot. They were very trendy and sensational,” said Sungjun of The New Six during

NCT will hold its first offline concerts as a group in Korea and Japan, SM Entertainment announced Wednesday. Under the title “NCT Nation: To the World,” the full unit will perform in Incheon on Aug. 26 and in Japan's Osaka and Tokyo on Sept. 9-10 and 16-17, respectively. NCT is expected to bring out a full-group album later this year. Its second studio album “Resonance Pt. 1” made it to No. 6 on the Billboard 200 in 2020 and combined with “Resonance Pt. 2” s

French modern ballet choreographer Angelin Preljocaj brings his new take on the canonical classical ballet “Swan Lake” to the LG Arts Center from June 22-25. Preljocaj’s rendition of “Swan Lake” premiered in France in October 2020 as the visionary choreographer’s third production of narrative ballet, following “Romeo and Juliet” (1996) and “Snow White” (2008). Dancer-choreographer Preljocaj has been at the forefront of contemporary ball

Music in PyeongChang, an annual music festival held in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, will return to the theme of nature to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. In 2004, the festival was inaugurated under the theme of “nature’s inspiration.” From July 26 to Aug. 5, the festival will showcase 20 concerts and eight outreach concerts with pieces such as Schumann's "Forest Scenes," Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," and Schubert's "Trout Quin

Wavve launches new season of popular gay dating show despite opposition from anti-LGBTQ+ groups

A number of familiar faces will return to the K-pop scene in the second half of the year. Some of the major second-generation K-pop boy groups poised to make a comeback starting this month include Teen Top, Infinite, U-Kiss and SHINee. Among them, SHINee will be the front runner, making its comeback on June 26 with its eighth studio album “HARD.” This album comes after more than two years since the group's last one. SHINee is celebrating its 15th debut anniversary this year wit

Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi band together against ruthless loan sharks in the upcoming Netflix original series “Bloodhounds,” the first series project by director Jason Kim, who helmed “Midnight Runners” (2017) and “The Divine Fury” (2019). In the eight-part series, Woo and Lee star as young boxers Gun-woo and Wop-jin, respectively, who seek to take down Myung-gil (Park Sung-woong). Myung-gil preys on the financially desperate, following an unfortunate inciden

Dressed in colorful hanbok, 28 BTS fans shouted out loud “BTS, we love you” as they posed for a group photo at Changdeokgung in Seoul on Wednesday. As members of the BTS fandom, Army, the fans from Australia are in South Korea as part of a special tour hosted by the Korea Tourism Organization to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the K-pop megastars' debut. Under the name “BTS Road,” the tour will focus on following in BTS' footsteps, visiting locations that hold special s

The music video of K-pop superband BTS' 2020 megahit single "Dynamite" has topped 1.7 billion YouTube views, becoming the most-viewed music video by the boy group, its agency said Tuesday. The "Dynamite" music video surpassed the threshold on YouTube at 8:37 p.m. on Monday, becoming the first music video by BTS to achieve the feat, BigHit Music said. "Dynamite" is an upbeat disco pop song carrying a message of hope. It was released in August 2020 in the depth

South Korean women filmmakers will screen their works at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles this month, the second K-film project to be held in the American museum. According to the Korea Foundation, this special screening series, titled “A New Wave of K-Cinema: Korean Women Directors,” will run from Thursday until June 29th. The list of films includes contemporary films directed by Korean women such as Yim Soon-rye’s “Waikiki Brothers” (2001) and

Taeyong of the popular K-pop band NCT made his solo debut with his first mini album, “SHALALA,” on Monday. The talented artist composed and wrote the lyrics to all of the seven tracks in this new album, which is led by title track “SHALALA.” “The album comprises all kinds of honest feelings and thoughts from when I was having a hard time in life, to when I was having my best moments as well. I hope this album can help people cheer up to achieve their dreams and (fin

In the poignant social realism film “Dream Palace,” Hye-jung (Kim Sun-young) hopes to begin a new life in an apartment building named Dream Palace with her son Dong-wook (Choi Min-young). The block stands tall in the middle of nowhere, located in somewhat awkwardly new suburb that this family feels unsuited to. But this new home is priceless to Hye-jung, because she has bought it with the compensation she received after her husband was killed in an industrial accident. After fighting