50 seasons after debut, Maazel returns to Met

NEW YORK (AP) ― While Lorin Maazel isn’t slowing down, his tempi are based on the performance of Verdi’s “Don Carlo’’ he led to mark the 50th anniversary season of his Metropolitan Opera debut.Now 82, the former music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic conducted an alternately elegant and disjointed opening of the revival Friday night. The spectacle of the third act auto-da-fe was spacious, the trumpets grand. Confrontations were charged.

Feb. 25, 2013

G-Dragon set for world tour

G-Dragon, the lead singer of popular K-pop group Big Bang, will kick off his solo world tour, “G-Dragon 2013 World Tour: One of a Kind,” on March 30-31 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul.Big Bang recently held their world tour, “2012 Big Bang Alive Galaxy Tour,” where they met with fans from all over the world. After the group completed the tour, YG Entertainment announced G-Dragon’s 1st world tour with a poster through an official me2day posting on Jan. 12.“2013, G-DRAGON’s first world to

Feb. 25, 2013

Eyelike:

Iceage prove their worth on sophomore CDIceage``You‘re Nothing’‘(Matador Records)The second album from the four Danish lads known as Iceage is an even more caustic slab of brooding punk than their blindsiding first record. ``You’re Nothing‘’ rails against excess, manufactured pressure and the general decimation of morality.Alternating between urgent calls to act (“Coalition‘’) and a bruised motivation (”Wounded Hearts‘’), these songs devolve and instruments claw for space, fueling the unbridled

Feb. 22, 2013

One Direction, Emeli Sande among winners at Brit Awards

LONDON (AP) ― British music put on a brash, confident show at the Brit Awards on Wednesday, celebrating a resurgent industry whose bands and artists are topping charts around the globe.Winners ranged from established acts such as Coldplay and Adele to world-conquering boy band One Direction, who won in the new Global Success category.One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson called the prize “absolutely mind-blowing.”American artists Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey were among the non-British winners at a cer

Feb. 21, 2013

Son Yeol-eum’s life much more than the piano

Life seems perfect for 27-year-old pianist Son Yeol-eum at the moment.She has performed with internationally acclaimed orchestras, recorded a few albums and toured around the world while studying with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule fr Musik, Theatre und Medien in Hannover, Germany. It almost seems like growing pains, often detected among so-called child prodigies, have passed her. Since she started playing the piano at the age of 3-1/2, Son never had a setback ― she has won several international a

Feb. 20, 2013

McCartney, Mumford top eclectic Bonnaroo lineup

There will be a British invasion of the main stage at Bonnaroo this year.Paul McCartney and Mumford & Sons are among the headliners for the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.The four-day festival, held on a rural 700-acre farm, always features an eclectic roster, but the June 13-16 event is even more varied than usual.Returnees Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers also hold down a headliner spot. Then things get a little crazy with R&B star R. Kelly, alternative queen Bjork a

Feb. 20, 2013

SuPearls no more: YG’s newest girl group disbands before debut

New talent comes and goes every day in the cutthroat business of entertainment, and many of these star hopefuls never make it to the stage before they are given the pink slip. YG Entertainment, one of the largest and most powerful K-pop agencies here, said earlier this week that the highly anticipated new girl group SuPearls, who had been scheduled to debut this year, has in fact broken up. The fate of three of the four former SuPearls members remains to be seen.“We have decided to nullify our c

Feb. 20, 2013

Psy to attend festival in Turkey

Korean pop star Psy is set to visit Turkey for the first time to attend the Istanbul Blue Night festival.Psy will arrive on the first day of the two-day festival that starts Feb. 20, the singer’s agency YG Entertainment said. Psy’s world hit “Gangnam Style” also gained popularity in Turkey, with the country ranking fourth in terms of hits among countries that viewed the music video last year. “Psy is very excited to visit Turkey for the first time and said he will heat up the Istanbul Blue Night

Feb. 20, 2013

Billy McKnight says ex-girlfriend Mindy McCready‘s suicide ’not a major shock‘

Singer Billy McKnight says the suicide of country star Mindy McCready, his ex-girlfriend, at her Arkansas home was not “a major shock.”The former couple had fought for years over custody of their 6-year-old son Zander, who was placed in foster care along with his 10-month-old brother Zayne, this month. McCready‘s family said she had been drinking and using drugs again, and wasn’t caring for her children.The baby‘s father, McCready’s then-fiance David Wilson, was found dead of a gunshot wound in

Feb. 20, 2013

Porn company halts distribution of late U.S. singer’s sex tapes

A U.S. porn studio Vivid Entertainment decided to indefinitely halt the selling of deceased singer Mindy McCready’s sex tape, according to local news reports.“Digital distribution is hard to regulate but we plan to pull all the digital copies of the video from the website,” the company’s chief Steve Hirsch was reported as saying.The tape, titled “Baseball Mistress,” features the late singer and her then-boyfriend. In the video, McCready also discusses her alleged affair in 2008 with disgraced fo

Feb. 20, 2013

Rookie, ‘new twist’ heat up N.Y. Opera Season

Ades’ ‘Powder Her Face’ opens Thomas Ades wanted to be provocative in his first opera, “Powder Her Face,” when he composed a scene in which he musically depicts a sex act between the Duchess of Argyll and a waiter.Not enough for director Jay Scheib, who turns the tawdry tale into a numbing night of decadence by adding two dozen naked men standing, stumbling and slumbering around a hotel room in New York City Opera’s new production that opened Friday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilm

Feb. 18, 2013

Artist from Caucasus under spotlight

The art world is shifting attention to artists from developing countries in search of fresh input into the contemporary art. Major galleries in New York and European countries are holding exhibitions that highlight artist from developing countires. Many of Europe’s major galleries are holding exhibitions of artists from countries in the Caucasus region such as Azerbaijan and Georgia. “The trend started about five years ago as major galleries started to pay attention to artists from Latin America

Feb. 18, 2013

Blush to work with producer Quincy Jones

Multicultural Asian girl group Blush announced that it has signed on to work with the Grammy Legend Award-winning American musician and producer Quincy Jones on the girls’ debut full-length album. Jones is not only slated to act as the group’s executive producer on the band’s yet-to-be titled album, but on other future productions as well. “When I met Blush, I was blown away,” Jones said in news reports. “These five girls reflect my lifelong mission to bring people together through music.”The di

Feb. 18, 2013

Mindy McCready found dead in apparent suicide: report

U.S. singer Mindy McCready was found dead Sunday in what appears to be a suicide, according to U.S. news reports.The body of the 37-year-old country singer was found by local deputies at her home in Arkansas, according to a news release from the Cleburne County Sheriff. “Ms. McCready is deceased from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Sheriff Marty Moss said in an interview with USA Today newspaper.Moss said his officers visited the singer’s residence around 3:38 p.m. and found

Feb. 18, 2013

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s iconic works on view in Seoul

African-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artistic career lasted only eight years before he died at age 27, but he still remains as a mainstay in the global auction market: A drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat was sold at the top price of $15.2 million at an auction last Friday in London. And now, some of his iconic works are on view at Kukje Gallery in Seoul until March, offering a broad survey of his works that left a lasting impression in the contemporary art scene in the 1980s. As Basquiat

Feb. 17, 2013

Barry Manilow enjoys ‘intimate’ Broadway return

NEW YORK (AP) ― It took a little while before Barry Manilow felt comfortable on Broadway.The Man Who Makes the Whole World Sing is used to far bigger venues than the 1,710-seat St. James Theatre, one of the smaller theaters on the Great White Way.“It’s a totally different feeling from the stage. I’m in their laps; they’re in my lap. It’s very, very intimate,” says Manilow. “This is like going to somebody’s house.”Manilow ― and his fans dubbed Fanilows ― are clearly enjoying his first return to B

Feb. 17, 2013

Calendar

Theater“The Woman in the House”: Local playwright Lee Nan-young is staging her new work, “The Woman in the House,” which deals with female victims of domestic violence. The play begins with a middle-aged woman about to go on a trip with her only grandson. Her daughter-in-law helps her prepare for the trip, and their ordinary conversation eventually reveals dark secrets of their past and the present. “The Woman in the House” runs from Feb. 15-24 at Daehangno Batangol Theater in Hyehwa-dong, Seoul

Feb. 15, 2013

Eyelike:

10cm duo returns with new sound10cm“The 2nd EP”(Mirrorball Music)The indie acoustic duo of 10cm has returned with the follow up EP to their second full album. The five-track EP features the title track “Oh Yeah,” which is an upbeat blues-inspired rock-and-roll song that ventures drastically from the group’s slow, acoustic-style second album. Although the title track doesn’t quite reflect the best musical side of the duo, it however does show off the band’s attempt at diversity in their albums. T

Feb. 15, 2013