‘Cats’ Seoul run extended to December

The international tour production of “Cats” will extend its Seoul run for a month. The West End musical opened Sept. 9 at the Charlotte Theater in eastern Seoul. Though initially slated to run until Nov. 8, the show will now close on Dec. 6. After the Seoul run, the musical will tour Korea, though details of that have yet to be finalized. Adjusting to the time of the novel coronavirus, the musical sold half of the 1,241 available seats. Cast members also wore masks featuring cat

Oct. 12, 2020

Refund Sisters repeat Ssak 3 success

Refund Sisters’s debut single “Don’t Touch Me,” released at 6 p.m., Saturday, swept major online music charts within the first 24 hours, topping both BTS’ “Dynamite” and Blackpink’s “Lovesick Girls” for the top spot. Refund Sisters is a quartet of singers with strong personalities brought together in MBC’s “Hangout with Yoo.” The group -- consisting of Lee Hyo-ri, Uhm Jung-hwa, girl group Mamamoo’s Hwasa and ra

Oct. 12, 2020

Which film will follow ‘Parasite’?

Thirteen Korean movies have applied to be selected as Korea’s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film, according to the Korean Film Council on Monday. Since Director Bong Joon-ho won the Oscar for best international feature film for “Parasite” at the 92nd Academy Awards in February, movie industry insiders’ eyes are now on who will be selected to compete for the nomination next year. The selected film will be announced at the end of this month.

Oct. 12, 2020

Isang Yun Peace Foundation honors El Sistema founder

Celebrating the legacy of iconic composer Yun I-sang (1917-1995), the Isang Yun Peace Foundation honored Venezuelan conductor, pianist and economist Jose Antonio Abreu (1939-2018) with the 2020 Isang Yun Prize. Since 2007, the Isang Yun Peace Foundation has recognized musicians who carried on Yun’s legacy. According to the foundation, the prize celebrates artists who are actively involved in society and who have made contributions to “peace, reconciliation and harmony.” In 1

Oct. 11, 2020

Performing arts festival goes for-pay online

The 2020 Seoul Performing Arts Festival will be a contactless event, connecting with audiences at home via livestream. The SPAF, organized by the Korea Arts Management Service under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is an annual festival held in the Daehagno neighborhood in central Seoul. This year, however, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be streamed online. It will be the first major performing arts festival here to adopt a paid online streaming model. The

Oct. 11, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Pawn (Korea) Opened Sept. 29 Family drama Directed by Kang Dae-kyu In 1993, Doo-seok (Sung Dong-il) and Jong-bae (Kim Hee-won) work as debt collectors in Incheon. They may look intimidating, but they are soft inside. One day, the two go to collect a debt from Myung-ja (Kim Yun-jin) who unexpectedly offers her 9-year-old daughter Seung-yi (Park So-yi, Ha Ji-won) as collateral. When Myung-ja is deported from Korea, the two collectors suddenly become Seung-yi’s guardians.   Greenland

Oct. 8, 2020

Busan International Film Festival to begin Oct. 21

The 25th Busan International Film Festival, originally set to open Oct. 8, will be held Oct. 21-30 both offline and online, according to the festival organizers. “We will screen a total of 194 films, and 125 will be screened through our online channel,” a BIFF organizer told The Korea Herald on Wednesday. “There will not be any outdoor events, including opening and closing ceremonies, outdoor greetings and open talk sessions, which can gather crowds. Instead, we will focus

Oct. 7, 2020

After 60 years, pianist rediscovers Schumann

  It took him about 60 years to understand Robert Schumann (1810-1856). After all those years, concert pianist Paik Kun-woo finally gets the German Romantic composer. Paik will hold a Seoul recital in October followed by a nationwide tour marking the release of a new album last month dedicated to Schumann. “I now understand the life that Schumann lived, and with what thoughts he packed up and admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital,” Paik, 74, said during an online press

Oct. 7, 2020

‘Collectors’ to steal moviegoers’ hearts with tomb-robbery tale

Comedy crime film “Collectosr” is ready to steal moviegoers’ hearts with its original story about tomb robbery. “As the first Korean film about tomb robbery, we will present new visuals that the audience has never seen before,” director Park Jung-bae said during an online press briefing Tuesday. “Collectors” is Park’s debut feature.  　 “Collectors” introduces three robbers. Kang Dong-goo, played by Lee Je-hoon, is a genius robb

Oct. 6, 2020

Musical ‘Mozart!’ viewed online by 15,000 paid audience

The two-day online screening of musical “Mozart!” gathered 15,000 paid audience members in Korea over the Chuseok holiday. EMK Musical Company, the production company behind the hit musical, offered a paid online stream of its hit musical “Mozart!” on Saturday and Sunday via Naver V Live, a local video streaming platform. A total of 15,000 people purchased online tickets for the musical screening, according to EMK Musical Company Tuesday. Some 12,000 were individual t

Oct. 6, 2020

[Herald Interview] Sohyang talks singing in ‘Begin Again,’ lesson from battle with pneumonia

After basking in the limelight of “King of Mask Singer” in 2017, Sohyang has kept a low-profile, staying away from the small screen. Over the course of her public absence, she’s battled severe pneumonia, which recurred eight times and nearly took away her voice, and made her certain, at one point, that her singing career would be over. But ironically, it was also those times of despair that helped get her head above water and led her to music variety show “Begin Again.&rd

Oct. 5, 2020

‘Emperor of Trot’ Na Hoon-a concert proves 73-year-old’s star power

Along with eating traditional food and getting together with family, for many, one of the highlights of this year’s Chuseok holidays was watching local broadcaster KBS 2TV’s “2020 Chuseok Grand Plan Republic of Korea Again Na Hoon-a” on Wednesday. The 2-hour and 40-minute recording of 73-year-old trot singer Na Hoon-a’s first-ever online concert, which took place Sept. 23 and aired Wednesday, got a record-breaking viewership rating of 29 percent, according to mark

Oct. 4, 2020

BLACKPINK hopes to show growth, share positive energy with 1st full album

K-pop group BLACKPINK said Friday it wanted to show its growth as an artist and send out a message of hope and positive energy with its first-ever full-length album. Earlier in the day, the quartet unveiled the album "The Album," which includes main track "Lovesick Girls" as well as hits that have topped music charts such as "How You Like That" and "Ice Cream" featuring Selena Gomez. "We wanted to not only express various emotions on love but also s

Oct. 2, 2020

Preorders for BLACKPINK's upcoming full-length album top 1m

Preorders for K-pop girl band BLACKPINK's upcoming studio album have topped 1 million, its management agency said Friday. "The Album," set for official release later in the day, posted 670,000 preorders from South Korea and 340,000 from overseas, YG Entertainment said. It said if the album records 1 million copies in actual sales in its first week, it will be the most by a K-pop girl group in history. Eight tracks of the quartet's first full-length album will be available to the pub

Oct. 2, 2020

Despite reopening, public stage struggles with uncertainty

Though state-run culture facilities reopened Monday, uncertainties regarding the COVID-19 pandemic remain. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Friday that 23 museums and libraries and 11 government-run performing arts venues would reopen Monday after a monthlong shutdown. Despite them reopening, however, the performing arts sector continues to struggle. The Art Council Korea,, also known as Arko, under the Culture Ministry, canceled its Arko Partner project Thursday, cancel

Sept. 29, 2020

KBS Orchestra to bring LoL music out of screen and onto stage

Music from the hit online video game League of Legends will be brought to life by an orchestra here. “League of Legends Live: The Orchestra” will be held at the Sejong Center of Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Nov. 27-28. It will mark the first time that the Sejong Center is presenting a show with music from a video game. It will also be the first League of Legends concert hosted by Riot Games in Korea. League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena video ga

Sept. 28, 2020

[Herald Interview] Chamber music festival to bring spring to Seoul in October

A spring music festival will be happening in the fall -- perhaps not so unusual in a year that has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 15th Seoul Spring Festival of Chamber Music will now take place in mid-October, after the original May schedule was put on hold following the nationwide spread of the novel coronavirus. Violinist Kang Dong-suk, the artistic director of the festival who has led the SSF since 2006 when the festival was founded, recently arrived from France and completed

Sept. 28, 2020

S.M. Entertainment aims to lead contactless era with Disney-like IP

Korean entertainment behemoth S.M. Entertainment is changing to adapt to the contactless era while utilizing its intellectual properties. “Like how Disney achieved an IP empire, K-pop will overcome this (pandemic) situation and become a genre that forms an IP empire in the music industry,” said S.M. Entertainment co-CEO Lee Sung-soo on Friday in his speech at MU:CON Online 2020. MU:CON is a four-day international music industry annual gathering organized by the Korea Creative Cont

Sept. 27, 2020

[Eye Interview] Korean Peninsula laid out on music sheets

Not much is known about North Korea, let alone its music scene. The few things known about North Korean music concern its propaganda, hailing the ruling Kim dynasty, and state-led acts such as the Moranbong Band and Samjiyeon Orchestra. According to pianist Kim Cheol-woong, 45, who defected from North Korea some two decades ago, such perceptions are partly true and partly wrong. “Western music before the 20th century can be played freely. However, those after that must be screened by

Sept. 26, 2020

[Weekender] Bringing the theater experience to homes

People all over the world have been stuck at home for several months now due to COVID-19. More and more concerts and performances have moved online, and some movies have been released on Netflix or other online content platforms exclusively or prior to opening in theaters. With myriad offerings available in these quarantine times, some people are looking to enhance the online experience by setting up sound systems for their homes. The visual experience of an online performance can also be enha

Sept. 26, 2020