Boy band NTC 127 will expand into the US pop market in cooperation with a music label under the entertainment giant Universal Music Group, the band's local management agency said Friday.SM Entertainment said it signed an agreement with Capitol Music Group on Thursday (US time) on the promotion of NCT 127's music content. CMG's sub-label Caroline Distribution will be in charge of distributing NCT 127's music in the global market. (SM Entertainment)CMG is a prominent music label that has such high

K-pop superstars BTS was nominated in the Top Duo/Group category for the upcoming 2019 Billboard Music Awards set for May, as well as in the Top Social Artist category, which the septet has conquered for the last two years, according to Billboard on Friday.Billboard released the lineup for nominees in the 56 award categories for the event to be held at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 1, in a post uploaded Thursday (US time). 2019 Billboard music award : 2019 NomineesBTS will compete wit

The K-pop female indie duo Bolbbalgan, also known as BOL4, will debut in Japan in June with a Japanese translated version of their 2016 hit song "Galaxy," their management agency Shofar Music said Thursday."Having signed with the famous Japanese music production firm King Records, Bolbbalgan4 will officially debut in Japan on June 5," according to the agency. (Yonhap)Their Japanese debut music will be a Japanese version of "Galaxy," a 2016 song that helped consolidate the music duo's solid prese

Super Junior-D&E, a two-men subunit of K-pop boy band Super Junior, will drop their third EP later this month, the band's management agency Label SJ said Tuesday.The duo of two Super Junior members -- Donghae and Eunhyuk -- will release "DANGER" on April 15, returning to the K-pop scene following their previous EP "Bout You" in August last year, according to the agency affiliated with SM Entertainment. Super Junior-D&E (SJ)Black and white teaser images for the duo's upcoming album, released Tues

Chen, the main vocalist of popular K-pop boy band EXO, released his first solo EP on Monday, presenting six mellow ballads to the spring K-pop scene.The 26-year-old, whose real name is Kim Jong-dae, has recorded a number of solos, including on the original soundtracks for various TV series, such as “Everytime” for mega hit 2016 series “Descendants of the Sun,” but it’s the first time he is releasing a solo album.  (Yonhap)The new album, titled “April, and a Flower,” brings to the fore Chen’s exp

TONGYEONG, South Gyeongsang Province -- With cherry blossoms in full bloom, the Tongyeong International Music Festival 2019 began Friday.The annual 10-day festival, founded in 2002, takes place at the city of Tongyeong, a southern coastal city and UNESCO City of Music.This year’s edition pays respect to two historical figures of music. One is, as is typically the case, late composer Yun I-sang, as the festival has its roots in a music festival dedicated to Yun. Tongyeong was the famed composer’s

TONGYEONG, South Gyeongsang Province -- Refugees were on composer Toshio Hosokawa’s mind when he wrote “The Maiden From the Sea” in 2017. At the time, images of refugees’ suffering and deaths had shocked and distressed the world. “The Maiden From the Sea” had its Asian premiere at the Tongyeong International Music Festival on Friday and Saturday.  Soprano Sarah Wegener (left) and Noh singer-dancer Ryoko Aoki (Tongyeong International Music Foundation)The Black Box theater of the Tongyeong Music H

ASAP Rocky is stopping by Seoul on Friday as part of his 2019 “Injured Generation” world tour.The American rapper kicked off the trek in January in promotion of his third studio album, “Testing,” which was released in May last year.  ASAP Rocky (ASAP Rocky`s official Facebook page)In his Friday show to be held at Jamsil Arena at 8 p.m., Rocky will showcase live performances of tracks from his latest album that debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and lists collaborations with Frank Ocean, Moby,

The management agency of boy band BIGBANG ended sales of merchandise related to the disgraced former band member Seungri, while major broadcasters stopped servicing VOD contents featuring the singer and another scandal-ridden artist, Jung Joon-young, in the aftermath of the broadening sex and corruption scandal centering on the two K-pop stars.The accelerating efforts to remove any signs of the two troubled stars come as the police continue their investigation into allegations that Seungri procu

K-pop speaks Korean -- for the most part -- but not all its fans.In addition to K-pop’s nonverbal appeal, the language barrier is being broken down by a network of fans who translate Korean content into other languages in real-time. BTS performs at MBC Plus x Genie Music Awards 2018 (Park Hyun-koo, The Korea Herald)Jessica Cuadros Marquez, who manages the BTS fan organization of Peru, said Spanish-speaking fans depend on reliable fan accounts that have a track record of producing quality Spanish

Though Korea’s traditional music, gugak, is often neglected as pop music and Western classical music draw more attention, the National Gugak Center hopes to turn things around this year with fresh, innovative performances.The center, designed to preserve, support and promote gugak, operates four separate units: the Court Music Orchestra, the Folk Music Group, the Dance Theater and the Contemporary Gugak Orchestra.  (National Gugak Center) National Gugak Center (National Gugak Center)“Last year’s

The Korea National Opera begins its 2019 season with performances of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” at the Seoul Arts Center from Thursday to Sunday.The German opera tells the love story of Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night. After Pamina is kidnapped by the high priest Sarastro, the Night Queen persuades Tamino to rescue his daughter and gifts him with the magic flute.  Singers perform during a rehearsal of “The Magic Flute” on Tuesday at the Seoul Arts Center

Singer and actress Bae Suzy, who debuted in JYP Entertainment's girl band missA, will terminate her contract with the management agency and is likely to move to another talent agency specializing in acting, according to JYP and other sources on Tuesday."We announce that Suzy's exclusive contract with JYP will expire at the end of March," her current agency said in a press release. (Yonhap)"After debuting in missA in 2010, Suzy has worked harder than anyone under JYP ... JYP will cheer for the pa

English electronic music duo HONNE announced Tuesday the release of its second musical collaboration with RM, the leader of K-pop band BTS.The duo posted images reading the lyrics of the new song on its official social media accounts, under a note, "27.03.19", the date of the song's release. It was signed with "HONNE X RM" at the bottom.The new song adds rap lines by RM to HONNE's 2018 song, "Crying Over you," off its album "Love Me / Love Me Not.""Now I don't like a cliche, but I'm reading from

Ensemble Ditto will perform its last season in June after a 12-year run, with its members scheduled to part ways after a final festival titled “Magic of Ditto.”　The all-male chamber ensemble was founded in 2007 in an effort to introduce classical music to a wider, younger public. Star violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill teamed up with a number of other young artists, presenting audience-friendly and innovative programs in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia.  Violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill (Credia) P