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

Events Calendar

 Exhibitions“Koo Bohnchang”: One of South Korea’s most renowned photographers, Koo Bohn-chang, is holding a solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery. Elements from his other series as well as his personal collections of eclectic objects are on display, giving the viewers a hint of Koo’s youth, attitudes toward photography and more. The exhibition runs through April 30 at Kukje Gallery in Sogyeok-dong, cen

April 15, 2011

e-readers infiltrate book clubs

Sandy Harris has long enjoyed laid-back conversations about literature with the other members of her book club. Lately, though, technology is complicating the routine: “We’re definitely divided into the Kindle people and the not Kindle people,” Harris says, alluding to Amazon’s popular digital reading device.Welcome to the changing landscape of book clubs, those ubiquitous living-room forums where

April 15, 2011

Rome’s bloody, art-loving emperor Nero in new show

ROME (AFP) ― It’s safe to say that the Emperor Nero ― the subject of a major new exhibition and archaeology trail that opened in the Roman Forum this week ― has always had something of an image problem.He has gone down in the history books as the man who had his domineering mother Agrippina killed, kicked his pregnant wife Poppaea to death and ― as legend would have it ― played his lyre on a hill

April 14, 2011

The Radio Dept. to make Korean debut

Landing fresh from a performance at California’s Coachella music festival, Swedish indie pop band The Radio Dept. are to play their first ever Korean gig next week. The band, whose music was featured in Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette,” are excited to play for their fans here, singer Johan Duncanson told The Korea Herald by phone from a recording space in Stockholm, in the midst of rehearsals fo

April 14, 2011

Daniel Catan, opera composer and librettist, dies at 62

LOS ANGELES ― Daniel Catan, an opera composer and librettist whose works including “Il Postino” and “Florencia en el Amazonas” have been praised for their lyrical romanticism and humane generosity of spirit, died suddenly Saturday in Austin, Texas. He was 62.Catan’s death was announced by the Butler School of Music of the University of Texas, where he was a visiting artist. The cause has not been

April 12, 2011

Japan quake rocks tours of foreign acts

Concert tour schedules of foreign music artists in Korea have been rocked by last month’s massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan and local concert organizers claim they are finding it difficult to retrieve their sudden losses.To the big disappointment of rock fans here, concert organizer 9 Entertainment recently said that Beady Eye, the U.K. group consisting of Liam Gallagher and other former mem

April 12, 2011

JYJ’s Junsu voted best singer

JYJ’s Kim Junsu was voted the best singer of all Korean idol group members, a local survey has shown.A local newspaper conducted the survey on ten vocal trainers to rank the Korean idol groups and their members based on how well they sing. The results showed 2AM, a four-member male vocal group, as the best. Big Bang took second place. Girl group Kara, who gained sensational popularity in Japan, we

April 12, 2011

[Herald Interview] Sara Bareilles anticipates fun concert in Seoul

U.S. singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles said she is looking forward to visiting Seoul to hold her first concert in Korea, as she is already familiar with Korean culture.Bareilles plans to showcase her latest songs and familiar songs by other artists at the Hongdae V-Hall in Seoul on May 14 at 7 p.m. “I know that Korean food is amazing and I heard a lot from people who traveled around Korea that the

April 11, 2011

Sotheby’s sells record $447m worth Asian art

Despite lackluster imperial porcelain sales, Hong Kong auction sets new recordHONG KONG (AFP) ―Sotheby’s said Saturday it sold a record HK$3.49 billion ($447 million) worth of Asian and Chinese art, fine wines, watches and jewels at its eight-day Hong Kong auction.The auction house offered 3,600 lots in eight categories in what its Asia CEO Kevin Ching described as the “most successful Hong Kong s

April 10, 2011

‘Tofu pizzas for the people’

While political elites enjoy chef-made Italian pizza in the only pizza restaurant in North Korea, citizens of Pyongyang are learning through a DVD how to make pizza with tofu instead of cheese.London-based designer Kim Hwang is the man behind the tofu pizza DVD. He decided to teach North Koreans how to make pizza when he found out about the hypocrisy of the pizzeria that opened in Pyongyang during

April 10, 2011

[Herald interview] Universal Music sees big potential in Korean classical music

Universal Music Group International, which has prestigious label Deutsche Grammophon, expects that the Korean demand for classical music to grow faster in the coming years on the back of the country’s growing wealth and interest in the genre.“The first thing you need to invest in classical music is a market that is confident of growth. The second thing is an extremely accelerating level of wealth

April 8, 2011

SPO cements status with record deal

Seoul Philharmonic signs long-term license agreement with Deutsche GrammophonSeoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s music director Chung Myung-whun said on Thursday the orchestra had inked a long-term license contract with Deutsche Grammophon.“It’s been six years since I took the helm of the SPO. Signing a contract with the world’s top classical music record label Deutsche Grammophon is a big step,” Chung

April 7, 2011