The Korea Herald

Prince plays biggest ‘surprise’ London concert yet

Feb 11, 2014

LONDON (AFP) ― Prince has played his biggest surprise concert in London yet as he pursues his reinvention by fronting an all-girl band in a series of small concerts.After playing to a few hundred ecstatic fans in Camden over two nights last week, some 2,000 enthusiasts waited hours to see the superstar strut his stuff at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire late Sunday.The last time Prince played a series of concerts in London, it was a 21-night residency at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena in 2007.In more mo
Jazz festival to feature Haden, Palmieri, other legends

Feb 11, 2014

Seoul Jazz Festival 2014 to be held May 17-18
Korean pop singer to sing ‘Arirang’ at Italian festival

Feb 11, 2014

South Korean pop singer Kim Jang-hoon will sing the famous Korean folk song “Arirang” during one of Italy’s largest cultural festivals to celebrate the March 1 anniversary of the Korean Independence Movement, his management agency said Tuesday.Kim will sing the song together with a traditional Korean percussion ensemble at the main stage in San Marco Plaza, Venice, on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28 as a lead performer in the Carnival of Venice, the agency said. He was previously scheduled to sing only on F
Girls’ Generation returns with EP

Feb 11, 2014

K-pop group Girls’ Generation will release its fourth EP, titled “Mr.Mr.,” this month, the group’s management agency said Tuesday.It will be the group’s first album since “I Got a Boy,” released in January 2013.Before the official release, the group will upload the title track “Mr.Mr.” on local online music services such as Melon, Naver Music and Genie, SM Entertainment said.On Tuesday, the girls unveiled teaser videos on their official website, YouTube and Facebook.“Girls’ Generation gained glo
Top S. Korean entertainment companies join big biz federation

Feb 11, 2014

South Korea's two largest entertainment companies, whose performers include Big Bang, Girls' Generation and Psy, have become members of the country's main lobby group for big businesses, an official press announcement said Tuesday.The Federation of Korean Industries said the group's 21-member executive body approved the membership of SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment along with applications made by 52 other companies. The other companies are leaders in the country's service and tech venture
Making opera accessible

Feb 10, 2014

RAMK aims to attract new opera fans with ‘Cosi fan Tutte’
Broadway sensation ‘Once’ making first non-English production in Korea

Feb 10, 2014

Original crew looking for Korea’s ‘triple threats’
New York Philharmonic delivers energetic Seoul concerts

Feb 9, 2014

For New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert, silence in the audience is not always the same. “There is a difference between a silence that is focused and a silence that is merely dutiful,” Gilbert said in a press conference hours before a concert Thursday in Seoul. “With the Korean audience, I have always sensed an energetic concentration.” And that seemed to be the most accurate description of the mood last week inside the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall, where the American conductor l
Grammy winner John Mayer to put on first concert in Korea

Feb 9, 2014

The internationally popular America pop/folk singer John Mayer will be making his way to Seoul on May 6 to put on his first concert performance in Korea since he made his musical debut more than 10 years ago. The upcoming concert event is the 14th installment of the Hyundai Card Culture Project series, which in the past brought acts such as The Killers, Keane, John Legend, Ke$ha, Jason Mraz, Kraftwerk, Mika and Damien Rice.After an appearance at the annual South by Southwest showcase in Austin,
Beatlemania: A moment in time never to be repeated

Feb 9, 2014

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Musical moments that capture the attention of a national audience ― and beyond ― never seem to be in short supply. Last week, Bruno Mars set a ratings record with 115 million people watching his Super Bowl performance. A few months ago, the talk was about Beyonce’s surprise album. And there’s still discussion of That Miley Moment at the MTV Video Music Awards. But moments that spark a musical revolution? A dramatic altering of the pop culture landscape? A true moment for histo
Mystery surrounds theft of Stradivarius violin

Feb 6, 2014

MILWAUKEE (AP) ― Violin virtuoso Frank Almond was walking to his car after an evening performance at the Wisconsin Lutheran College when someone jumped out of a van, shocked him with a stun gun and seized the rare and extremely valuable Stradivarius on loan to him. The robber got back into the waiting vehicle, which sped off. Almond, who had been knocked to the ground, wasn’t seriously hurt. But he was devastated by the loss of the violin, which was crafted in 1715 and has been appraised for ins
YB to debut in U.S., U.K. with ‘Cigarette Girl’

Feb 6, 2014

Korea’s chief rock band YB is set to debut in the United Kingdom and the United States with its signature single “Cigarette Girl,” according to the band’s management company on Tuesday.YB, which recently signed with the former manager of American hard rock legend Guns N’ Roses Doug Goldstein, will unveil the English version of “Cigarette Girl” on Feb. 18, marking the band’s first official international appearance under a foreign management agency.“Cigarette Girl” was originally sung by veteran K
‘American Idol’ star Aiken launches Congress bid

Feb 6, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― “American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken declared Wednesday he is running for Congress, putting his singing career on hold as he aims to unseat a Republican from her North Carolina district.Aiken said he would run as a Democrat against two-term congresswoman Renee Ellmers because he believes she is voting against her constituents’ interests in the House of Representatives.“This is what’s wrong with Washington,” Aiken said in a nearly five-minute video, where he highlighted his upb
At 30, Lim seeks change, balance

Feb 5, 2014

Lim Dong-hyek was called a “prodigy pianist” in his teen years, an “idol star in classical music” and a “Chopin specialist” in his 20s. He wouldn’t have chosen any of these labels, if he’d had a choice. Now turning 30, Lim wants to show his true colors as a pianist, nothing more and nothing less. “People tend to think of me as a poser who boasts flamboyant techniques and transcription skills, but I am not,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday from New York. “I like to play pieces that are e
Houston gets U.S. premiere of Holocaust opera

Feb 5, 2014

HOUSTON (AP) ― It’s the darkest of operas, a powerful and unrelentingly grim work that dares to grapple with the horrors of the Holocaust through a musical descent into the hell that was Auschwitz. The opera is “The Passenger,” and its composer was Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a Polish Jew who as a young man fled to the Soviet Union to escape the Nazis ― the only member of his family to survive. He completed the opera in 1968 and considered it his most important work. Yet for political reasons it had ne