With South Korea’s COVID-19 social distancing rules lifted, big-name global pop artists are returning to the country. Norwegian singer-songwriter Jakob Ogawa will be the first pop artist to hold a concert after the government scrapped distancing restrictions. The musician will hold his solo concert “Jakob (fka Jakob Ogawa) Live in Seoul” at Rolling Hall in Mapo-gu, western Seoul on May 20. It will mark the artist’s first meeting with local fans. Icelandic iconic post-r

Two Grammy-winning artists, violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill and violinist Hilary Hahn, are scheduled to perform in South Korea in the coming weeks. O’Neill will join the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for two concerts on May 19 and 20 at the Lotte Concert Hall in Songpa-gu, Seoul, marking the first time in 15 years for the US-based violist to perform with the orchestra.  During the 90-minute concert, O’Neill will premiere Paul Chihara’s “Concerto for Viola an

As South Korea scrapped most COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, the World DJ Festival, an annual outdoor electronic music festival, will return to the physical stage in August at Auxiliary Stadium in Jamsil Sports Complex in Seoul. This year’s festival will be held for three consecutive days starting Aug. 11 and is expected to be the biggest in-person event since the pandemic, accommodating around 70,000 to 80,000 people, according to festival organizer BEPCTangent Creative on Tues

For the last four years, Park Hye-sang, an emerging South Korean soprano, has lived as a cultural nomad, bouncing between New York, Berlin and Seoul to further her career as an opera singer. The first four months of this year alone were a whirlwind of concerts and long-haul flights for Park. In January, she was in New York to perform Pamina in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” with the Metropolitan Opera and in Prague for an Opera Gala with Prague Philharmonia. From there, she hop

Beautiful Mint Life 2022, an annual outdoor indie music festival, will take place from Friday through Sunday at the Olympic Park’s 88 Jandi Madang in southeastern Seoul. This year’s Beautiful Mint Life was originally planned as a two-day event, but additional performances have been scheduled for Friday on huge demand for stage performances amid the eased quarantine measures. The tickets for Saturday and Sunday sold out in just five minutes, according to the festival organizer Mint

Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival will be held in person this summer as the country takes steps to return to normalcy after more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rock festival will be held from Aug. 5 to 7, with performances from some 50 musicians and collectives from home and abroad at Songdo Moonlight Festival Park in Incheon. While the music festival mainly covers rock and electronic music, musicians who perform other genres such as alternative pop bands, indie bands and K-pop

A total of 12 Intangible Cultural Heritage Masters and dozens of educators gathered Wednesday in southeast Seoul to protest a newly proposed school curriculum, calling it a “massacre of gugak.” Gugak refers to Korean traditional music in Korean. Led by Lee Young-hee, 83, Intangible Cultural Heritage Master of Gayageum Sanjo and Byeongchang, the group condemned an ongoing research project led by the Ministry of Education to revamp school music curriculum. “We have devoted

49-year-old singer-songwriter, one-time Buddhist nun says jazz music is her ‘second ascetic practice’

From introducing forgotten female composers to crossing over beyond classical music into K-culture, the Korean National Symphony Orchestra unveiled plans to impress its name on the minds of music lovers at home and abroad. The orchestra’s artistic director David Reiland introduced various artistic plans and initiatives to reporters during a press conference at Seoul Arts Center on Tuesday. Reiland plans to help discover forgotten female composers, a continuation of a project with Franc

Korean hip-hop legend Tiger JK is gearing up for the release of a new digital single sometime in June, an industry source told The Korea Herald on Tuesday. “Tiger JK has completed recording and is going to start mastering the record and film a music video for the upcoming song,” the source said. It will likely to mark the musician’s return to music nearly nine months after the release of “Love Peace Movement,” the remix of “Love Peace” which dropped

People thirsty for stage performances flocked to Nodeul Island, central Seoul on Saturday, seeking to find comfort in jazz music in line with the South Korean government’s “phased return to normal” scheme. It was a perfect day to enjoy jazz music outdoors in spring weather, with the gentle breeze scattering flower petals. Marking the UNESCO-designated International Jazz Day, the 2022 Seoul Jazz Festa drew roughly 750 music fans who showed their excitement over the return of lon

K-pop singer Soyou returned to the stage with her first mini-album “Day&Night” Wednesday, following her last single “Good Night My Love,” which was released in March last year. “Since ‘Day&Night’ is my first mini-album, I have a deep affection for it. I tried to fill up with various genres of songs,” Soyou said during a press showcase event held in Seoul on Wednesday, ahead of the EP’s online release at 6 p.m. “Day&Night&

Girl group Viviz will be taking the virtual stage on the Grammy’s digital performance series titled “Global Spin,” according to the trio’s agency Big Planet Made Entertainment on Tuesday. The act will be the first K-pop girl group to perform on the music show. Viviz will showcase “Bop Bop!” from its first mini-album “Beam of Prism,” released in February. The prerecorded performance will show the trio in black hanbok -- Korea’s traditional co

Metz’s tour of five cities will mark first visit by foreign orchestra this year

With the landmark Seoul Jazz Festival resuming in-person this year after a three-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lineup of stars for this year’s festival has been unveiled. The 14th Seoul Jazz festival will be held over three days outdoors, starting May 27 at the Olympic Park’s 88 Jandi Madang in southern Seoul, according to the festival’s organizer Private Curve. It is set to feature a number of big-name artists who will come to Korea for the first time, officia