Amsterdam chief conductor Mariss Jansons to step down

THE HAGUE (AFP) ― The chief conductor of Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons, is to step down at the end of the season after leading the world-famous ensemble for a decade, the RCO announced on Tuesday.“Today ... chief conductor Mariss Jansons informed the musicians and staff members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra that Maestro Jansons will resign his position after the 2014-2015 season,” the RCO said in a statement.Health concerns were believed to be the reason for hi

April 23, 2014

A Polish take on ‘Macbeth’

Murder, betrayal, sex and vengeance ― no story shows the savage behavior that some humans succumb to in order to fulfill their ordained prophecies or the unrelenting grasp that evil can have on one’s soul like the power-hungry tale of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”“Let not light see my black and deep desires,” Shakespeare wrote in the depiction of Macbeth’s inner turmoil as he longed to murder the king and overtake his throne. Considered one of Shakespeare’s most diabolical and compelling trag

April 23, 2014

Bid, Dick, bid: ‘Dick and Jane’ artworks for sale

BROOKLINE, New Hampshire (AP) ― In the portrait, the little boy’s blue eyes twinkle as he looks straight ahead. His apple cheeks shine. There’s a gap in his teeth, and his reddish-brown hair is just slightly tousled. He’s an all-American boy. He’s Dick, of the illustrated “Dick and Jane” series that helped teach generations to read from the 1930s to the 1970s. He’s also Nancy Childress’ childhood neighbor and the model for the drawing by her father, Robert Childress, that along with Jane, Sally,

April 21, 2014

‘Landscape of Desire’

A young man follows a middle-aged woman from a distance. She moves through a park in a wheelchair. Once she enters her apartment, she fastens the sturdy door lock tight, making a few blunt clicking sounds. She gets out of her wheelchair and finds a beam of sunlight shining directly into her eyes. The light is reflected off a window in the building across from her apartment block. Behind the window stands the man who was following her through the park. He is tilting the window to point the light

April 21, 2014

[Herald Interview] Indie rapper dreams big

Korean-American rapper Snacky Chan, 33, has always been an independent artist. From his start in the Boston underground hip-hop scene in the late ’90s to his move to Korea in 2008 and up to today, he said he’s never been out to get signed. Instead, he relies solely on himself. “When I first started ― first debuted ― the whole system kind of changed. People were doing stuff independent and building their own fan base, getting on the radio without depending on your label’s backing,” he said in a r

April 21, 2014

Korean-American Ilram Choi is the man inside the suit in ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’

The man inside the Spider-Man suit in the recently released Hollywood blockbuster “The Amazing Spider Man 2” is not only Andrew Garfield, but also Korean-American Ilram Choi.According to Sony Pictures Releasing Walt Disney Studios Korea on Monday, “The Hollywood stuntman Ilram Choi has participated as one of Andrew Garfield’s stunt doubles in the recent Amazing Spider-Man movie series, as he did during the first movie.” (Director Marc Webb’s SNS)According to the motion picture distributor, Choi

April 21, 2014

Protest art from Kiev’s Maidan on show in Vienna

VIENNA (AFP) ― Tyres “burn” in a corner, gas masks and truncheons hang from the ceiling: as unrest rocks Ukraine, art from Kiev’s Maidan is already making its debut in a Vienna museum. The exhibit is titled “I Am a Drop in the Ocean” after a slogan used by the protesters on the Maidan, or Independence Square. Thrown together in just five weeks, the works by some 40 Ukrainian artists were inspired by or eerily prescient of the clashes that helped topple the government in February. Protesters with

April 20, 2014

Eyelike: Park Si-hwan debuts with ‘Spring Awakening’

Park Si-hwan debuts with ‘Spring Awakening’Park Si-hwan“Spring Awakening”(CJ E&M)Park Si-hwan, the runner-up on the television audition program “Superstar K5,” has entered the local professional music scene with his first solo EP “Spring Awakening.”During the program, Park, a mechanic at the time, impressed judges and listeners with his soulful voice, earning the moniker “bolt guy” for gripping a 13 mm bolt throughout his first audition.The EP title signals the fulfillment of his long-cherished

April 18, 2014

Legacy of Korean modern art on view

The late artist Kim In-soong once asked the May Queen of Ewha Womans University to model for a portrait. The painting depicts the modern young woman sitting on a wooden chair, wearing a flower-patterned dark turquoise sleeveless blouse and matching skirt. The white moon vase and LP turntable on a wooden cabinet in the background provide hints to the year the painting was made. But her classic style ― mid-length naturally straight hair, a silver watch and flats ― give a timeless value to the work

April 17, 2014

Original Jesus Ted Neeley brings ‘Superstar’ to Rome

ROME (AFP) ― Ted Neeley, the original lead in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” is back four decades on as the son of God in the hit musical in Rome, and hopes Pope Francis will be in the audience.The pontiff will be “just down the street and we’re hoping he’s going to come visit us and see the show. I think he’s a wonderful, wonderful man,” an enthusiastic 70-year-old Neely told AFP between rehearsals of the world-famous rock opera.The Texan musician and actor has appeared in other works, including Que

April 17, 2014

Japan virtual star Hatsune to join Lady Gaga tour

TOKYO (AFP) ― Hatsune Miku, a computer-generated Japanese pop star who performs as a hologram, is to support some of Lady Gaga’s tour of North America next month, the U.S. songstress has announced on Twitter.The pixel-perfect pop princess, whose voice is also the product of digital code, will perform in 3-D alongside a band made of real musicians at shows starting in Atlanta on May 6. “My favourite digital pop star Hatsune Miku is opening The ARTPOP Ball from May 6-June 3!” Lady Gaga said on her

April 17, 2014

Neil Young raises $6m for Pono on Kickstarter

NEW YORK (AP) ― Neil Young has raised more than $6 million through a Kickstarter campaign to fund the singer-songwriter’s digital music project PonoMusic. Kickstarter closed the campaign Tuesday after it raised $6.2 million through 18,000 supporters. The campaign is the third most-funded project for Kickstarter. Young’s portable player will cost $399 when it debuts in October. PonoMusic will also launch an online music store. The project promises high quality audio compared with other digital tr

April 17, 2014

Dance show ‘Soul Train’ may boogie onto Broadway

NEW YORK (AP) ― The groundbreaking song-and-dance show “Soul Train” is chugging toward Broadway. Stage and film producer Matthew Weaver, who helped create “Rock of Ages,” has acquired the theatrical stage rights to the TV show and said Tuesday he’s hoping to repeat his success by turning “Soul Train” into a show that attracts both die-hard Broadway fans and those who usually avoid Times Square. “I’m nervous and I’m humbled and I’m excited,” said Weaver, who heads the production company MediaWeav

April 16, 2014

Matisse’s colorful cutouts go on show in London

LONDON (AP) ― A huge new Henri Matisse show in London is many things ― bold, colorful, exuberant. It’s also a great advertisement for the creativity of old age. The 130 works displayed at Tate Modern were created largely in the last decade of the French artist’s long life, when Matisse ― in a wheelchair, recovering from cancer and unable to paint as he once had ― used scissors and paper to create a series of big, bold and ambitious cutouts. The work of a man in his late 70s and 80s, they burst w

April 15, 2014

ArtShow Busan to open Friday

ArtShow Busan, the port city’s largest art fair, will kick off on Friday at Bexco, showcasing more than 4,000 works of art by international artists represented by prestigious galleries.The art fair, in its third year, is attempting to cement its status as a notable art market in Asia by presenting the works of high-profile artists including Nam June Paik, Lee U-fan, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Julian Opie. Last year, 35,000 people visited the fair and sales reached 5.1 billion won ($4.9 millio

April 14, 2014

[Herald Interview] Composer with crossover appeal sees future in gugak

The music of composer Ryu Hyeong-sun has an appeal that crosses strikingly different genres and attracts a diverse range of fans. To young or expecting moms, he is best known for a series of pregnancy music, lullabies and children’s songs. Christians know him as a gospel musician. Among fans of gugak or traditional Korean classical music, he is regarded as one of the country’s most promising gugak composers. Characterizing Ryu or his music by genre makes little difference to him, though. Music m

April 13, 2014