The Korea National Opera is set for the Korean premiere of Puccini’s 1910 opera “La Fanciulla del West.” The upcoming performance, set to run from Thursday at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul, features sopranos Karine Babajanyan and Lilla Lee, tenors Marco Berti and Oliver Kook. Puccini wrote the opera after watching the play “The Girl of the Golden West,” written by the American author David Belasco, in New York. The opera is set in a mining camp in Calif

Superband BTS retained the top spot on Billboard's main singles chart for the fifth straight week with its upbeat summer number "Butter," once again outpacing the group's chart record. "Butter" holds at No. 1 with 12.4 million US streams and 128,400 downloads sold (up 15 percent) in the week ending June 24. It also attracted 27.6 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 6 percent) in the week ending June 27," Billboard said Monday (US time) on its Twitter account.

No longer a boy band, 2PM returns more mature

2PM returned after five years with its seventh full album “Must." 　 It is first time in almost five years since all six members put together an album since the fifth LP “Gentlemen’s Game.” 　 “Time has changed a lot. There are many who have been expecting us, and there also would be those who don’t know us,” said Jun K at the online media conference. 　 “I hope many would find out what appeal 2PM has and which color each of the member has,&r

The director of the highly anticipated Korean mystery thriller “The 8th Night” Kim Tae-hyung said his new movie is unique because it features Buddhist monks in a way moviegoers have never seen them before. “Our movie shows that Buddist monks can also appear as exorcists,” the director said during an online press conference held on Monday, ahead of the film’s Netflix release on Friday. “I agree with the director. I am a Christian but I have wondered why onl

Soprano Sua Jo, known locally as Jo Su-a, has released her debut album “La Prima Donna” under the Sony Classical label Monday. According to Sony Music Entertainment Korea, the album features well-known arias such as “Lascia Ch’io Pianga” and “Ombra Mai Fu” from Handel’s 1711 opera “Rinaldo,” and Italian baroque music such as “Amarilli, Mia Bella” and “Amor Ch’attendi” written by Caccini and “Caro Mi

K-pop music critic Cha Woo-jin talks about the unchanging in ever-changing music industry

The South Korean actioner "Hard Hit" topped the local box office over the weekend, recording the biggest opening-weekend score for homegrown movies this year, data showed Monday. The film, released Wednesday, attracted 253,000 people over the Friday-Sunday period, taking the No. 1 spot at the South Korean box office on its first weekend, according to the data by the Korean Film Council. The figure was the largest first weekend admission record set by a South Korean film throughout 20

Concert pianist Cho Seong-jin, the first Korean to win the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, is to release a new album featuring Frederic Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on Aug. 26. Like the debut studio-recorded album in 2016, Cho joined hands with the London Symphony Orchestra led by the Italian maestro Gianandrea Noseda. Though Cho has performed the work on multiple occasions including the debut performance at the BBC Proms in 2018, it is the first time for the concer

Hyunjin of K-pop boy band Stray Kids has resumed his activities with the group after taking time out due to accusations that he had bullied a classmate in middle school. The act’s agency, JYP Entertainment, officially announced Saturday that Stray Kids had released a new record, “Mixtape: Oh,” as a whole group including Hyun-jin. In February, a former classmate who did not want his identity made public posted a message online saying he had suffered “severe emotional st

At the beginning of shooting for action film “Hard Hit,” actor Jo Woo-jin said he had worries because it was his first time playing a leading role in his 22-year career. “I was not sure if I am good enough for it,” he told local reporters during a joint media interview conducted via Zoom on Tuesday. “At the same time, I did not want to be arrogant and reminded myself of the thought that I had when I started acting.” He figured the best way to address his con

DO of EXO is putting out his solo debut album at the end of July, media reports said Friday. 　 His label SM Entertainment confirmed the news following the report. 　 He has released solo songs, such as “It’s Okay” and “Crying Out,” which were on the original soundtrack for the movie “Cart,” but this will be the singer’s first solo album since his debut in 2012 as a member of EXO. 　 The main vocal of the veteran idol band has been equally successf

Netflix on Friday announced that it has cast star Yoo Ah-in for its new action film “Seoul Vibe.” The global streaming platform added that it had finished casting all the main characters for the film, which will be directed by Moon Hyun-sung, who created films including “As One” and “The King’s Case Note.” “Seoul Vibe” revolves around a team investigating a case related to a VIP’s slush fund on the day of the opening ceremony of the

Hard Hit (Korea) Opened June 23 Action Directed by Kim Chang-Ju Sung-kyu (Jo Woo-jin) works as a manager at a bank in Busan. One morning, he receives an anonymous phone call while driving his two kids to school. The stranger on the phone asks Sung-kyu for money and also threatens him by saying there is a bomb installed under his car seat and it will explode if he does not follow the instruction. Luca (US) Opened June 17 Animation Directed by Enrico Casarosa  Teenage sea monster Luca liv

Ateez is launching its next record, “Dreamers,” in Japan next month, said agency KQ Entertainment on Thursday. 　 “Dreamers” consists of the title track and an acoustic version of “Still Here,” a song from its first Japanese full album, “Into the A to Z,” which came out in March. 　 In a 30-second teaser trailer the bandmates appear fresh and cool against the backdrop of Jeju Island. 　 The title track is full of positive energy as the band roots f