Food firms hope art is to diners’ tastes

Top pizza, liquor and snack houses turn to art marketingYour eyes might be dazzled before your mouth starts to water the next time you go to a pizza place.The seven-story Mr. Pizza building which opened in Bangbae-dong, southern Seoul, last week is part art gallery, packed with eye-catching artworks. Mr. Pizza, which currently tops the local pizza market, renovated the building into a kind of art

April 27, 2011

Japan mourns death of ex-pop star

TOKYO (AFP) ― Hundreds of middle-aged Japanese flocked to a cemetery in Tokyo on Monday to bid farewell to a popular actress amid national mourning for victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.Yoshiko Tanaka died at 55 last Thursday after a long battle with breast cancer, ending her showbusiness career which began with an all-girl pop group, named the Candies, who took Japan’s younger genera

April 26, 2011

Seo Tai-ji’s digital downloads surge after divorce

Seo Tai-ji’s digital music sales have quadrupled since his marriage and divorce with actor Lee Ji-ah became public last week. “Records from main music sites including Melon, Bugs, and Dosirak, show that file downloads for Seo’s music have increased tremendously, nearly fourfold compared to the past,” Gaon Chart, the country’s most authoritative music chart, said. “However, official data with every

April 26, 2011

Nudity by ‘fashion war correspondents’

Fashion photographers Juergen Teller and Paolo Roversi showcase portraits of cut-throat fashion industryWhat Anna Wintour’s assistants have to go through is only a fraction of the merciless battles in the uber-competitive world of fashion. Two fashion photographers who managed to survive and even receive praise for their successful campaigns are to reveal the inside of the most glamorous and compe

April 25, 2011

‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’ gets Asian premiere in Seoul

The Korea National Opera Company is to perform opera “Les Dialogues des Carmelites” by 20th-century French composer Francis Poulenc in Seoul in May, the first performance of the opera in Asia.First premiered in Paris and Milan in 1957, the opera is based on historical events which took place at a monastery of Carmelite nuns in Compiegne during the French Revolution.“This piece takes us to the ulti

April 24, 2011

Lee Soo-man gives Hallyu lecture at Stanford

Lee Soo-man, head producer and founder of SM Entertainment, gave a Hallyu business lecture at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business on April 19, an SM Entertainment spokesperson said. S.M Entertainment is a K-pop powerhouse, managing groups like TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee and F(x). Lee Soo-man speaks to Stanford MBA students at KnightManagement Center. (SM Entertainm

April 24, 2011

Pianist in thorough exploration of Liszt

Pianist empathizes more with Liszt’s boldness than Chopin’s completenessPianist Paik Kun-woo, 65, is a big name in the Korean classical scene, continuing to break boundaries. He covered the complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas in a week-long recital, had a two-hour concert to perform the complete cycle of “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus” of Messiaen and even held a rare four-piano concert collabo

April 21, 2011

SHINee wins French fans’ heart

French fans gathered in Chungdam-dong on Wednesday to meet SHINee, the Korean five-member boyband.Fifty-four French fans showed up for the fan meeting, singing “Hello,” SHINee’s hit song, when SHINee entered the room. The fans cheered when SHINee said a live SM Town concert will be held in Paris in June.(Yonhap News)The French fans were members of Korea Connection, a group of French people who lov

April 21, 2011

Musician Seo Tai-ji, actress Lee Ji-ah in divorce suit: report

Seo Tae-ji(left) and Lee Ji-ah (Yonhap News)To the great shock of fans, musician Seo Tai-ji and actress Lee Ji-ah are in a divorce suit, Sports Seoul reported Thursday.Seo, the media-shy enfant terrible of Korean hard rock, is famous for leading a secretive life but the report that he is married shocked the nation via cyberspace.The report is all the more shocking because Lee created top headlines

April 21, 2011

‘Tosca’ reveals beauty of Puccini opera

The Seoul Metropolitan Opera Company’s first production of “Tosca,” one of the most frequently performed operas among Puccini’s works, reveals the beauty of the Italian composer’s best-known lyrical aria through the singers’ vocal ability, acting and the orchestra’s following of veteran conductor Mark Gibson.During a press rehearsal Tuesday prior to April 21-24, soprano Kim Eun-joo in the role of

April 20, 2011

East meets West in Edinburgh

Korean artists to take center stage at annual culture festivalIt is an annual festival in Edinburgh that draws hundreds of thousands of people for three weeks of music, dance, theater and opera in August. This year the world’s biggest cultural fest will seek to build a bridge between Asia and Europe by featuring artists from Korea, China and Japan, according to the organizer. The staging of the Ko

April 20, 2011

N. Korea stages biggest magic show ever

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ― Amid a burst of fireworks and a haze of smoke, a burly showman in a white sequined suit and gold lame cape appears with a flourish. Over the next 45 minutes, he appears to make a Pyongyang bus levitate and wriggles free from a box sent crashing to the stage through a ring of fire.This is magic North Korean-style performed in a show touted as the country’s biggest ever

April 19, 2011

Young acts supply most star power at Coachella

INDIO, California ― As the U.K. folk-revival quartet Mumford & Sons, all of whom are in their early 20s, stared out on the 70,000 people or so gathered to watch their set at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on Saturday night, they couldn’t help but remark on how much had changed for them. “In 2008, I was a punter sneaking in here for Rage Against the Machine,” one of the Mumfords’ string

April 18, 2011

Legend to hold two concerts in Seoul

American R&B singer-songwriter John Legend said he was happy to hold two concerts in Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday. His visit to Korea is the first since he performed at the Olympic Hall in 2009.“The fans were incredible on my last visit to Seoul. I’m glad we’re doing two shows this time. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Legend said in an email interview.“I’ll perform a mix of songs from all of my

April 18, 2011

[Herald Interview] ‘Uncultured kids become uncultured adults’

Singer Yoo’s musical invited to open the Shanghai International Children’s Theater FestivalSinger Yoo Yeol did not really know that he would become a CEO of a musical company devoted to children until several years ago. However, since he established Yoo Yeol Company in 2006 to produce the children’s musical “The Bremen’s band,” the 50-year-old has drawn nearer and nearer to the thought that he cou

April 18, 2011

Maestro Chung urges state support for Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, said the Korean government should continually support the orchestra to help it advance to a world-class level.“If an orchestra wants to do better, it needs three things; the expertise of orchestra members, the expertise of the conductor and continuous support. In the history of Korean orchestras, none of them have really

April 17, 2011

New museum seeks harmony with surroundings

The architect-in-charge of the highly anticipated Seoul branch of the National Museum of Contemporary Art has admitted it will be smaller in size than had been originally planned. The museum is scheduled to open at the former Defense Security Command complex site, known as “Gimusa,” in central Seoul in 2013. “We are trying to find ways to secure as much space as possible underground that does not

April 17, 2011

Rain, No. 1 in TIME’s 100 poll

Rain, a South Korean actor and singer, has been voted the most influential person in the world in an online poll.In a poll conducted by TIME magazine, Rain ranked first in the voting for this year’s most influential people.The 2011 TIME 100 poll closed on April 14 with Rain in the lead. Taiwan’s Jay Chou and Britain’s Susan Boyle took second and third place. Rain received the highest number of vot

April 17, 2011