Property prices in and around Seoul have been hitting record-high levels for the past few months, even as the government has declared war on the region’s housing bubble. That housing bubble first began to form about 50 years ago. In the 1970s and ’80s the Gangnam area, an affluent neighborhood in southern Seoul, started to fill up with massive apartment blocks. “Red Pants,” a new Korean-language opera that will be presented by the Korea National Opera on Friday and S

Performance Aug. 25, 2020

Jazz vocalist Park Sung-yeon died Sunday at the age of 77. Park, who had kidney failure for more than two decades, had been in a nursing home in western Seoul for the past few years. The singer is often called the “godmother of jazz music” in South Korea. She opened Janus, the country’s first jazz-only club, in the college district of Sinchon, western Seoul, in 1978. “Korea, which had been a dead land of jazz music, has now become a thick forest, being home to numer

People Aug. 24, 2020

Like most fests this year, the 11th ACC World Music Festival has not been able to escape the crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual music festival kicked off Friday, despite the fast-spreading virus crisis. However, as the government decided to expand strict social distancing guidelines nationwide Saturday, the rest of the festival schedule had to be canceled. “It was like ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’” string instrument geomungo virtuoso Heo Yoon-

Performance Aug. 23, 2020

Ludwig van Beethoven is an important figure for every musician, but for pianist Kim Sun-wook -- a promising South Korean composer -- it is more than that, he’s a role model given his life’s work. Kim, the winner of the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition, will hold a recital Sept. 13 at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul. The recital, initially scheduled to take place in March, was postponed due to the spread of COVID-19. Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birt

Performance Aug. 22, 2020

Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival The Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival will be held Oct. 16-17 at Songdo Moonlight Festival Park, an hour’s drive from Seoul. The annual rock festival, ardently supported by local rock fans and music fans worldwide, usually takes place in early August. However, this year the event was postponed to October due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. Program details for the festival have yet to be announced. For more information in Korean, visit www.ppen

Travel Aug. 21, 2020

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra canceled its concerts slated for this week, after one of its members tested positive for COVID-19. The member contracted the virus after giving private lessons to a Seoul Arts High School student related to the Sarang Jeil Church virus outbreak. According to the SPO, the orchestra member was tested for the virus on Saturday, after being informed of having come in close contact with a person who had contracted the virus. The following day, the member was confir

Performance Aug. 17, 2020

With the government having imposed stringent health measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 on Saturday, the culture sector is scrambling to adjust. As transmission of the virus in the Seoul metropolitan area continues at a fast rate, the social distancing plan for the capital area was raised a notch to Level 2 on Saturday. All private and public indoor gatherings are restricted to 50 people and outdoor gatherings to 100. Musicals are offering ticket refunds without charging a commission.

Performance Aug. 17, 2020

The show must go on, and so must travel. While the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everyone’s life one way or another, one of the sectors that has been hit the hardest is the tourism industry. The tourism industry around the world has been crippled by the virus. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, 96 percent of the planet’s destinations have imposed travel restrictions, either completely or partially closing their borders. Though international travel is off the table f

Travel Aug. 15, 2020

The Korean National Ballet will perform “Heo Nan Seol Heon - Su Wol Kyung Hwa,” Aug. 21-23 at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul, presenting the life of the legendary poet Heo Nanseolheon. Heo Nanseolheon (1563–1589), whose real name is Heo Cho-hui, was a prominent Korean poet from the mid-Joseon era. Having left behind more than 200 poems in her name, her works are appreciated to this day. The ballet “Heo Nan Seol Heon - Su Wol Kyung Hwa,” brings her two

Performance Aug. 13, 2020

Ludwig van Beethoven was more than just the theme of this year’s festival for pianist Son Yeol-eum. He was the hero. Though hindered by the coronavirus and the heavy downpour, the 17th Music in PyeongChang (MPyC) successfully wrapped up its three-week run of concerts on Saturday, recording a 100 percent sold-out rate for its nine main concerts. “I could have given up if it had not been the year commemorating Beethoven,” Son, the artistic director of the festival, told The K

Performance Aug. 11, 2020

A musical actor currently starring in musical “Ludwig” has become embroiled in controversy after photos of the actor at a club emerged. Kim Jun-young came under fire for partying at a Seoul club from Thursday night to Friday after photos of Kim at the club went viral on social media. Kim is a lead actor in musical “Ludwig: Beethoven the Piano.” As his clubbing photos triggered hailstorm online, Kim stepped down from the show beginning with Saturday’s performance.

Performance Aug. 10, 2020

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will hold a special concert on Saturday at the outdoor stage of Seodaemun Prison History Hall, western Seoul, in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Liberation Day. Every year, the SPO, funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, holds a commemorative concert celebrating the day at iconic locations across Seoul such as the Sejong Center of Performing Arts, Seoul Plaza and Gwanghwamun Plaza. This year, the concert will be held at the Seodaemun Prison Histo

Performance Aug. 10, 2020

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- The 17th Music in PyeongChang (MPyC) wrapped up its three-week run of concerts on Saturday amid heavy rain. The music festival, held in the mountainous county of Pyeongchang, commemorated the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig Beethoven this year, like many other music festivals across the world. The event was titled “Es Muss Sein” -- part of an inscrutable note “Muss es sein? Es muss sein!” written by Beethoven in the manuscript

Performance Aug. 9, 2020

The original French production of musical “Notre Dame de Paris” will go on stage in Korea Nov. 10 - Jan. 17 at the Blue Square Interpark Hall in central Seoul, Mast Entertainment confirmed Thursday. The Seoul shows will be of the new version of the beloved musical created in 2017 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show the following year with detailed upgrades in costumes, choreography and lights. It will be the first time the new version is staged in Korea. The most rece

Performance Aug. 6, 2020

While musical shows around the world have been put on an indefinite hold over the past few months, “The Phantom of the Opera” continues to be busy in Korea -- the only production of the beloved show being performed anywhere in the world at the moment. An international tour production of “The Phantom of the Opera” will wrap up its Seoul run at Blue Square Interpark Hall in Yongsan, central Seoul, on Saturday, moving on to the Daegu leg of the Korea tour. “Sometime

Performance Aug. 4, 2020