BTS' 2016 music video "Blood Sweat & Tears" surpassed the YouTube milestone of 500 million views Wednesday, becoming the eighth BTS video do to so.The video for "Blood Sweat & Tears," the main track of the K-pop band's second full-length album, "Wings," hit the threshold Wednesday morning, nearly three years since its release in October 2016. It was the eighth BTS music video to pass the milestone. Other BTS videos that have achieved the feat include "D

As Denmark and South Korea celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the Royal Danish Orchestra is getting ready to play to a Korean audience for the first time at a concert featuring Danish conductor Thomas Sondergard and Korean pianist Sunwoo Yekwon. At the event, slated for Dec. 8 at the Seoul Arts Center, the orchestra will perform the preludes to Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s opera “Maskarade”; Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Conc

The Seoul Metropolitan Traditional Music Orchestra will take the stage at the Sejong Center’s M Theater on Wednesday to presenting newly commissioned gugak works. The orchestra, led by conductor Park Ho-seong, has been aiming for creative ways to uphold Korea’s traditional music since its establishment in 1965 as the nation’s first traditional music orchestra.“As Korea’s first traditional music orchestra, we have prepared Wednesday’s presentation to encourage

Mnet Asian Music Awards, the biggest K-pop award event in Asia, has chosen Japan's Nagoya as the destination for its 2019 ceremony despite a deepening diplomatic row between Seoul and Tokyo.The 2019 MAMA is scheduled for Dec. 4 at the 30,000-seat Nagoya Dome, the organizer, CJ ENM, said Tuesday. For the past two years, MAMA was hosted as a three-day event in three Asian cities, including Hong Kong, but CJ ENM cut it down to a single-day event for 2019 amid ongoing political protests in Hong Kong

The Busan OneAsia Festival, a major annual K-pop concert in the second-biggest South Korean city of Busan, will kick off next month with a star-studded lineup.The BOF 2019 will run from Oct. 19-25 at the outdoor stage of Busan's Hwamyung Park, Haeundae Beach and Busan Cinema Center at the city center, as well as other public areas in the port city, according to the organizer.     The festival's three main events -- K-pop Concert, Hip Hop Mash-up and Family Park Concert -- wil

INCHEON -- Violinist Chung Kyung-wha and pianist Kevin Kenner, who call each other “lifetime companion,” presented the complete Brahms violin sonatas on Thursday at Art Center Incheon. The duo performed the German composer-pianist’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G major, “Regen,” Op. 78; Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in A major, “Thun,” Op. 100; and Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108. The first sonata, often referred to

Four-day music event will introduce 74 K-pop acts

The Lotte Foundation for Arts is to launch the International Organ Competition of Korea next year. The foundation and the Korean Association of Organists will co-host the annual competition to recognize talented young organists around the world.  The Lotte Concert Hall, located in Jamsil, eastern Seoul, is home to a grand pipe organ, composed of almost 5,000 pipes installed across three floors. Built by the Austrian company Rieger, it took three years to design and install and cost 2.5 bil

Heinz Holliger and Kaija Saariaho have won the 2019 Isang Yun International Composition Award, the Isang Yun Peace Foundation announced Tuesday, which marked the anniversary of Yun’s birth. The foundation launched the annual award in 2007 to support and recognize composers, continuing Yun’s musical legacy. However, the event was halted in 2014 due to difficulties faced by the foundation’s management. After a six-year hiatus, the award resumed this year.  Heinz Holliger is

K-pop boy band Seventeen on Monday dropped its third full-length album, "An Ode," a collection of dark, charismatic numbers.The 11-track album marks a sharp turnaround from the characteristic energetic, uplifting music style the band has pursued since its debut in 2015. The record is led by the main track, "Poison: Fear," an R&B dance number, heavy with booming bass sounds.The song comes with a stronger-than-ever dance performance by the mob of 13 performers clad in black

Bringing its first official vacation to an end, boy band BTS on Monday resumed its global music career by traveling away from its home country."Wrapping up its extended vacation, BTS departed overseas this morning for an engagement abroad," Big Hit Entertainment said.  The management agency did not disclose where the septet was headed, but they were reported to be on their way to film a TV reality show.Some of the members, including RM and Jimin, spotted by a local media outlet, w

Cellist says Bach’s music is similar to K-pop

The music label of boy band BTS said Wednesday it will throw a global audition this year to launch a K-pop girl group around 2021."In cooperation with Source Music, Big Hit is set to host the 'Plus Global Audition' to recruit members for a new girl group with a view to get it to debut in 2021," Big Hit Entertainment said, referring to the label for GFriend, which was merged into Big Hit earlier this year. The global audition will start off with its first sessions in Los Angeles and New

Five-day piano festival to introduce prodigies well on their way to becoming virtuosi

In celebration of the 25th birthday of RM, the leader of the popular boy band BTS, his fans created a forest in his name at a public park along the Han River in Seoul, an environmental group said Tuesday.Some 250 fans gathered around the landmark clock tower on the Jamsil side of Han River Park last Saturday to celebrate RM's birthday, which falls on Sept. 12, with the forestation project, according to the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.   The fans planted 1,250 trees at