The Korea Opera Festival’s focus in 2011 is to well present two original Korean operas produced by local opera companies, as the production skills of Korean opera companies have made great progress in recent years, the organizers of the festival said Tuesday.With five opera companies participating in the event, the Second Korea Opera Festival will kick off on June 23 and run through July 24 at the

Performance May 24, 2011

NEW YORK ― There are many Korean businesses sponsoring artists and musicians as a tool of corporate social responsibility to promote Korean culture. Hyundai Card’s sponsorship, however, is quite different in terms of duration of the sponsorship and impact on the Korean people’s lifestyle, company officials said.As part of CSR, the credit card company built a partnership with the Museum of Modern A

Performance May 23, 2011

MBC Sports Plus announcer Song Ji-seonSong Ji-seon, an MBC Sports Plus announcer, has jumped from the 19th floor of her apartment building in southern Seoul Monday afternoon, a few weeks after stirring controversy over a suicide note on her Twitter, news reports said.Local media outlet News En said on Monday she was pronounced dead by 119 rescue staff at the scene, after jumping from her apartment

Social Affairs May 23, 2011

Herbert von Karajan“Karajan 60”Universal MusicUniversal Music‘s Deutsche Grammophon label has released legendary Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan’s collection of all symphonies performed in the 1960s and recorded in LPs when the conductor was at his pinnacle. The 82-CD collection comes with 319-page booklet explaining von Karajan’s major repertoires in Korean, English and Japanese. Only 3,00

Performance May 20, 2011

Special loan exhibition showcases how buncheong ware evolved from 15th to 16th century in Joseon eraNEW YORK ― The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one of the most popular tourist sites in the city, overwhelms visitors with the size of its collections and vast exhibition space. For those wishing to take a close look at a small but rare exibition in a quiet gallery rather than trying to take

Culture May 19, 2011

Maroon 5 says members have yoga session just before going on stageU.S. rock band Maroon 5 is coming to Korea again, three years after being blown away by more than 10,000 Korean fans singing along at their first concert in Seoul in 2008.Led by Adam Levine on lead vocal and rhythm guitar, the five-member group will hold two concerts in Korea ― on May 25 at the Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium in Seo

Performance May 18, 2011

CANNES (AP) ― Fashion rolled out the red carpet for charity in Cannes, with a benefit runway show that saw A-listers including Naomi Campbell, Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson and tennis man Novak Djokovic strut their stuff for a good cause.Campbell’s Fashion for Relief charity organized the Monday show and an auction that followed to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross to aid victims of the recent e

Film May 17, 2011

The Korea Herald starts a special series of articles under the title, “Culture Power Korea,” reporting on how Korean culture and Korean studies are being promoted around the world.The series, to be published Tuesdays and Fridays for the next several weeks, comes as the Korean Wave, or hallyu, has become increasingly popular among the global audience, while efforts overseas for promoting deeper und

Culture May 16, 2011

Acting chair stresses use of hallyu to draw U.S. studentsBOSTON ― Boston University’s College of Arts & Sciences will appoint a scholar in Korean and comparative literature to enhance Korean studies, and strengthening the existing four-year Korean-language, cinema and media program, said a professor at BU.“Boston is a strong place for Korean studies. One reason that Korean studies has become popul

Culture May 16, 2011

BOSTON ― Most Korean people must have memories from their school days of trying to memorize important dates and names from Korean history for exams. They may feel that learning about Korean history, especially early history, might be more boring than any other study. In Boston, however, the Korea Institute of Harvard University’s approach to helping students learn about early Korea can be current,

Culture May 16, 2011

VALENCIA (AP) ― They can defuse bombs, help decontaminate nuclear power plants, even vacuum the living room floor without bashing into the furniture or knocking over a vase.One thing you don’t see robots doing, though, is jamming with a live, human orchestra. Breaking into a 12-bar solo is something that’s still pretty much the province of people.Except at the California Institute of the Arts, whe

Culture May 15, 2011

On Saturday evening at 7 p.m., the Goyang Aram Nuri’s Concert Hall was filled with music lovers anticipating the KBS Symphony Orchestra and veteran cellist Chung Myung-wha’s performance of Haydn.The program was part of the arts center’s seven-year concert series offering diverse symphonic programs from Haydn of the late 18th century to Shostakovich of the 20th century, through 2017.Conductor Chung

Performance May 15, 2011

CANNES (AFP) ― South Korean film-maker and festival favorite Kim Ki-duk drew a standing ovation at Cannes for an emotionally raw self-portrait aimed at curing a crippling bout of “director’s block.”“Arirang,” screening in the Un Certain Regard sidebar section at the world’s top cinema showcase, features Kim living in self-imposed exile and grilling himself about his own perceived failings as a dir

Film May 15, 2011

Korea sees hope in Venezuelan education model ‘El Sistema’Eighteen-year-old Lee Jeong-wook doesn’t know where he was born. From the first moment he can recall from his childhood, he has lived in Busan Boystown, a children’s shelter where 700 orphaned children from toddlers to high school students live together.But unlike many other Korean teenagers undecided about their career path after high scho

Culture May 13, 2011