Pianist Paik Kun-woo to tour Korea following release of all-Schumann album

After basking in the limelight of “King of Mask Singer” in 2017, Sohyang has kept a low-profile, staying away from the small screen. Over the course of her public absence, she’s battled severe pneumonia, which recurred eight times and nearly took away her voice, and made her certain, at one point, that her singing career would be over. But ironically, it was also those times of despair that helped get her head above water and led her to music variety show “Begin Again.&rd

Along with eating traditional food and getting together with family, for many, one of the highlights of this year’s Chuseok holidays was watching local broadcaster KBS 2TV’s “2020 Chuseok Grand Plan Republic of Korea Again Na Hoon-a” on Wednesday. The 2-hour and 40-minute recording of 73-year-old trot singer Na Hoon-a’s first-ever online concert, which took place Sept. 23 and aired Wednesday, got a record-breaking viewership rating of 29 percent, according to mark

K-pop group BLACKPINK said Friday it wanted to show its growth as an artist and send out a message of hope and positive energy with its first-ever full-length album. Earlier in the day, the quartet unveiled the album "The Album," which includes main track "Lovesick Girls" as well as hits that have topped music charts such as "How You Like That" and "Ice Cream" featuring Selena Gomez. "We wanted to not only express various emotions on love but also s

Preorders for K-pop girl band BLACKPINK's upcoming studio album have topped 1 million, its management agency said Friday. "The Album," set for official release later in the day, posted 670,000 preorders from South Korea and 340,000 from overseas, YG Entertainment said. It said if the album records 1 million copies in actual sales in its first week, it will be the most by a K-pop girl group in history. Eight tracks of the quartet's first full-length album will be available to the pub

Music from the hit online video game League of Legends will be brought to life by an orchestra here. “League of Legends Live: The Orchestra” will be held at the Sejong Center of Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Nov. 27-28. It will mark the first time that the Sejong Center is presenting a show with music from a video game. It will also be the first League of Legends concert hosted by Riot Games in Korea. League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video ga

Violinist Kang Dong-suk talks about hosting music festival in pandemic era

Korean entertainment behemoth S.M. Entertainment is changing to adapt to the contactless era while utilizing its intellectual properties. “Like how Disney achieved an IP empire, K-pop will overcome this (pandemic) situation and become a genre that forms an IP empire in the music industry,” said S.M. Entertainment co-CEO Lee Sung-soo on Friday in his speech at MU:CON Online 2020. MU:CON is a four-day international music industry annual gathering organized by the Korea Creative Cont

NK defector pianist Kim Cheol-woong hopes to bridge two Koreas through music

People all over the world have been stuck at home for several months now due to COVID-19. More and more concerts and performances have moved online, and some movies have been released on Netflix or other online content platforms exclusively or prior to opening in theaters. With myriad offerings available in these quarantine times, some people are looking to enhance the online experience by setting up sound systems for their homes. The visual experience of an online performance can also be enha

The Tongyeong International Music Foundation appointed Chin Un-suk, Berlin-based composer of contemporary classical music, as the next artistic director of the Tongyeong International Music Festival. The contemporary music festival which honors the late-composer Yun I-sang is held annually in the coastal city of Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, every March. This year’s festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chin will lead the event from 2022 to 2026. “I am ho

Original Korean musical “Sonata of a Flame” has been viewed in 45 countries online, according to its production company Shins Wave on Tuesday. The musical, which kicked off its run on Sept. 11 in Daehangno, Seoul, livestreams 13 of 18 live in-person performances. The 13 performances are streamed globally, with the exception of China and Indonesia, via a local tech startup‘s online platform, Presented Live. According to a press release shared by Shins Wave on Tuesday, viewer

Though many musical events have been postponed or canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the southern city of Tongyeong is looking forward to Isang Yun Prize 2020, which celebrates the legacy of iconic composer Yun I-sang (1917-1995). Tongyeong, a port city in South Gyeongsang Province, is Yun’s birthplace. Based in Berlin in his later years, the composer became internationally recognized for his attempts to bridge the music of the East and the West. The Tongyeong Internatio

MU:CON, South Korea's largest international music industry trade show, will be held virtually this year and will explore challenges and opportunities the global music industry faces during the age of COVID-19, organizers said Wednesday. MU:CON Online 2020 will be held from Sept. 23-26 in Seoul under the theme "Post Corona, Next Music Industry" but with no audience members or overseas speakers attending in person, according to the state-run Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). Confe

The Korea Foundation, the public diplomacy arm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Asia Society Switzerland will co-host an online conference on K-pop on Wednesday. The event, titled “KF-Asia Society Switzerland Virtual Dialogue on K-Culture” will look into how K-pop is changing the entertainment industry in the post-coronavirus era. Kim Young-min, group CEO of S.M. Entertainment Group, will give the presentation “Online Business Strategy of S.M. Entertainment After th