BTS’ special playlist

After enjoying a monthlong vacation, BTS resumed its activities Monday, boarding a plane for an overseas engagement. While its agency, Big Hit Entertainment, declined to disclose details of the trip, fans are happy to see their favorite boy band back in the game. The Korea Herald has compiled a special playlist for fans who have been waiting for the band. While it was not easy to pick just a few tunes from the group’s hefty discography, here is a curated list of our favorites, in chronolog

Sept. 18, 2019

Lotte Foundation for Arts launches organ competition

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

Sept. 18, 2019

Music fans flock to stream K-pop classics

One of South Korea’s longest-running music chart shows is streaming old episodes from the 1990s and 2000s, a move that has proven a hit with music fans.SBS’ “Inkigayo” has been showcasing the best of Korean pop music to viewers across the country for the last three decades on the small screen and some of its most glorious days are now available for viewing on the YouTube channel SBS Kpop Classic.The channel has been broadcasting episodes from between the late 1990s and ea

Sept. 18, 2019

'Lord of the Rings' show to start filming in New Zealand

WELLINGTON (AFP) -- US-based streaming giant Amazon announced Wednesday its big-budget "Lord of the Rings" series will within months start filming in New Zealand, home to Peter Jackson's movies of the fantasy epic.Amazon is reportedly spending $1 billion-plus on the series as it seeks to emulate the runaway success enjoyed by "Games of Thrones".Showrunners JD Payne and Patrick McKay said the South Pacific nation offered the "primordial beauty" of Middle Earth, the s

Sept. 18, 2019

Holliger, Saariaho win Isang Yun International Composition Award

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

Sept. 17, 2019

[Herald Review] ‘Man of Men’ is a film that shouldn’t work but does, through power of character

Director Yong Soo’s first feature film, “Man of Men,” is a film that by all accounts shouldn’t work: It is far too familiar, far too obvious and far too sappy for a movie that came out in 2019.Yet surprisingly, the buddy flick starring Sol Kyung-gu and Cho Jin-woong turns out to be pretty fun, buoyed by a mix of drama and comedy -- albeit pretty much by the book -- from the accomplished actors.The film kicks off with gangster Yeong-gi, who embezzles his boss’s money

Sept. 17, 2019

BTS agency rejects dating rumor about member Jungkook

The management agency of boy band BTS refuted a dating rumor involving the band's youngest member, Jungkook, on Tuesday.The rumor originated from CCTV footage of a couple on the resort island of Geoje, which was circulated online. The image shows a man hugging a woman from behind in a shop, causing some people to allege that Jungkook is in a romantic relationship.BTS' management agency, Big Hit Entertainment, however, flatly rejected the rumor, vowing stern legal action against any privacy-compr

Sept. 17, 2019

Seventeen explores solitude, fear in 3rd full album

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

Sept. 16, 2019

Wrapping up 1-month vacation, BTS resumes career with overseas trip

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

Sept. 16, 2019

[Herald Review] ‘Yesterday,’ an unimpressive, but lovely film

For those who have someone they hold dear, how would it feel to fall in love with the same person for the first time, once again? That mixture of excitement and nervousness, followed by a rush of joy after realizing that you have stumbled upon something truly special?Director Danny Boyle’s “Yesterday,” a film about a world where the Beatles never happened, depicts that wonderful moment of the world falling in love with their astonishing music for the first time, through a feel-

Sept. 15, 2019

Aug. ticket sales for S. Korean movies hit 7-year low

Monthly sales figures for homegrown films tumbled to their lowest point in seven years last month on a dearth of hit titles, a report showed Saturday.Sales of tickets for South Korean movies came to 18 million in August, 4.21 million less than the monthly sales recorded in August last year, according to the Korean Film Council.It is the first August figure to fall below the 20-million level since 2012.The unusual downturn is attributable to Korean films' tepid performance this summer.Such famous

Sept. 14, 2019

[Box Office] Movies in Theaters this week

It Chapter Two(US)Opened Sept. 4HorrorDirected by Andy Muschietti Twenty-seven years after the Losers Club defeated Pennywise, he has returned to terrorize the town of Derry once more. Now adults, the Losers have long since gone their separate ways. However, kids are disappearing again, so Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), the only one of the group to remain in their hometown, calls the others home.Tune in for Love(Korea)Opened Aug. 28Romance, DramaDirected by Jung Ji-wooIn 1994, when singer Yoo Yeol appea

Sept. 11, 2019

Four Netflix films invited to Busan Int'l Film Festival

Four Netflix original movies have been invited to this year's Busan International Film Festival in an apparent move to keep up with rapidly changing trends in the industry.Last week, the festival announced this year's lineup of 303 films from 85 countries. The list included four Netflix films -- "The King" by David Michod, "The Two Popes" by Fernando Meirelles, "Marriage Story" by Noah Baumbach and "I Lost My Body" by Jeremy Clapin.The 24th edition of BIFF

Sept. 10, 2019

[Herald Review] Yo-Yo Ma ‘saves’ Korea with Bach’s cello suites

On Sunday, Chinese American cellist Yo-Yo Ma delivered his message of “I want Bach to save the world” to the Seoul audience. Ma, 64, performed J.S. Bach’s six cello suites for solo cello as part of the Credia Park Concert at Jamsil in eastern Seoul, playing all 36 movements without an intermission in a 150-minute concert.The Bach Project began in August 2018 and has spread across 36 cities on six continents over a period of two years. “I want Bach to save the world,&rdquo

Sept. 9, 2019

Dark ‘Joker’ wins top Venice Film Festival prize

VENICE (AP) -- Todd Phillips’ dark comic book film “Joker” won the Golden Lion Award at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on Saturday and cemented its place as a legitimate contender for the rest of the awards season.Jury president Lucretia Martel announced the winners of the prestigious award during a ceremony on the Lido. The Golden Lion previously put a spotlight on films that went on to be major awards season players, such as “Roma” and the film academ

Sept. 8, 2019

'The Phantom of the Opera’ to visit Korea in Dec.

The world tour of the beloved musical “The Phantom of the Opera” will land in Korea this winter.The South Korean leg of the world tour will kick off at Dream Theater in Busan, with its first performance in December. It will then move to Blue Square in Seoul, before winding up at Kyeimyung Art Center in Daegu.The cast and the schedule for the performance has not been confirmed. Based on the French novel of the same title by Gaston Leroux, the musical featuring music by Andrew Llo

Sept. 8, 2019

2019 SPAF to bring 19 international productions onstage

The 2019 Seoul Performing Art Festival (SPAF) is set to kick off its 18-day run, bringing 19 international productions onstage.The festival, organized by the Korea Arts Management Service, is slated to take place Oct. 3-20 in central Seoul, spread out across Arko Arts Theater, Deahakro Arts Theater, Sejong Center and Arts Theater at Korea National University of Arts.This year’s SPAF puts 19 performing arts productions from 10 countries onstage, featuring nine plays, nine dances, and one ge

Sept. 8, 2019

‘Arthdal Chronicles’ begins final run, hopes for rebound

The final third part of the “Arthdal Chronicles” began its run on tvN last weekend.Following the end of the fantasy-romance drama “Hotel Del Luna,” “Arthdal Chronicles,” divided into three parts, has started to air its last segment. Billed to be a blockbuster fantasy drama, the series features big-name stars, such as Song Joong-ki, Jang Dong-gun, Kim Ji-won and Kim Ok-bin, as the main cast.Set in a mythical land called Arth in the early Bronze Age, more t

Sept. 8, 2019

South Korea's only mountain-themed film festival opens in Ulju

This year's Ulju Mountain Film Festival kicked off on Friday for a five-day run in the southeastern county of Ulju, with 31 movies from 20 countries set to be screened.Under the slogan of "The Road Together," the fourth edition of the mountain-themed film fest runs from Sept. 6-10 in the county near the eastern coastal city of Ulsan."Piano to Zanskar," a British documentary film by Michal Sulima, will open the festival, according to organizers. It depicts an attempt by a reti

Sept. 6, 2019

DAC to stage ‘Egalia’s Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes’ in October

The Doosan Art Center will stage Kim Su-jung’s “Egalia’s Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes” from Oct. 1-19 at the center’s Space111 theater in Seoul.Kim is an up-and-coming theater director whose works aim to increase awareness of social and political issues. She currently leads the New Universe Theatre Company and is a DAC artist. Kim’s latest work is a contemporary reimagining of the 1977 feminist classic “Egalia’s Daughters” by Norwegi

Sept. 6, 2019