The 13th Seoul International Music Festival, one of the major annual classical music festivals held every autumn in Korea, will take place in October under the title “Amusement Park.” The festival will take place across Seoul, including the Seoul Arts Center and the Lotte Concert Hall, Oct. 23-30, hoping to offer joy and comfort to classical music audiences hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Though ...

The 5th Seoul Forest Jazz Festival will take place in-person on Oct. 16-17. The festival, launched in 2017, is held annually at Seoul Forest, featuring leading jazz musicians as well as pop acts. On Monday, organizers Page Turner announced the festival schedule, with the lineup to be released Wednesday. Last year, the festival was held as a hybrid event. Under the theme “Silent Picnic,” it all...

Korean pianists Park Jae-hong and Kim Do-hyun won prizes at the 63rd Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, taking first and second places, respectively. The biennial Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, organized by the Ferruccio Busoni -- Gustav Mahler Foundation, wrapped up Friday, announcing the three winners among 33 semifinalists. For this year’s hybrid competition...

Pianist Sunwoo Yekwon and K-pop singer-songwriter Kwon Jin-ah will go onstage at the Lotte Concert Hall on Sept. 11 through a recital titled “Curtain Call,” produced by local entertainment mogul CJ ENM. The program will feature Sunwoo performing classical music piano works such as Mozart’s Rondo in A Minor and Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G minor and more. After an intermission, the two will perfor...

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Theater Safety Center have jointly released a manual on theaters’ response to COVID-19 to effectively respond to virus infectious disease situations. According to the Culture Ministry, performing art halls have been evaluated to be relatively safe facilities, as there have been no audience-to-audience infections or actor-to-audience infections sinc...

Though Flasic has been holding concerts at the Sejong Center, one of the biggest art centers in Korea, prejudice against computer games still remain a challenge. “Prejudices are still a barrier. I had difficulty persuading some arrangers. Some asked me ‘What if this would not be good enough for others?’ I am aware there are still people who talk behind my back,” she said. Chin says she will con...

The two pianists will also hold solo recitals at the Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in western Seoul. Mukawa will perform Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight” and Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit” on Sept. 8 and Fournel will perform Chopin’s Nocturnes and Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 3 on Sept. 16. On Sept. 15, the two pianists will take part in a concert in Nowon, northern Seoul, performing Mozart’s works...

For more information, check the festival’s official website at pentaport.co.kr.

Concert pianist Cho Seong-jin, the first Korean to win the International Chopin Piano Competition, released his second Frederic Chopin album Friday. The new album, released under the Deutsche Grammophon label, features Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21. On the album, Cho is accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra led by the Italian maestro Gianandrea Noseda. Though Cho has p...

The South Korean government is to abolish the controversial “shutdown law,” lifting the curfew that blocks access to online games by underage users late at night 10 years after the law came into force. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the decision Wednesday, saying they will scrap the shutdown law out of respect for the rights ...

Korean National Ballet dancers are to present their own choreographed works through the “KNB Movement Series 6” show this weekend. The KNB is to go onstage on Saturday and Sunday at the Seoul Arts Center, presenting original works choreographed by its members, including principal dancer Park Seul-ki’s “Imagine,” principal dancer Shin Seung-won’s “Harmonia,” soloist Kang Hyo-hyung’s “Mannequin’s ...

“Child actors are doing their best for a better performance. I am proud of them,” producer Park Myeong-seong, the artistic director of Seensee Company, said at an online press event Wednesday. “Watching the rehearsal clips, I was proud of myself. But I also felt that there are also some details to be improved,” Jeon Kang-hyuk said. “The training was not easy as I started Billy School without le...

Rock musician Yoon Do-hyun has been able to reminisce about the old days while starring in the musical “Gwanghwamun Sonata.” The musical, produced by CJ ENM, tells the story of middle-aged musician Myungwoo. In a coma on his deathbed, Myungwoo travels back to his past in the ‘80s and ‘90s, guided by Weolha. Yoon plays the title role of Myungwoo along with stage actors Um Ki-joon and Kang Pil-se...

The KBS Symphony Orchestra is to hold the concert, “Pictures at an Exhibition,” at the Seoul Arts Center on Thursday, joined by maestro Chung Myung-whun and pianist Garrick Ohlsson. Ohlsson, the winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, went onstage with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in September 2019, performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op. 83. At Thursday’s c...

Violinist Stephen Kim is to hold a recital on Sunday at the Seoul Arts Center, opening the 2021 Hic et Nunc! music festival organized by the string ensemble Sejong Soloists. The Korean American violinist, 26, won the third prize at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition. It is his first solo recital in Korea. “The title of the recital is ‘Spiritual Reflection.’ I wanted to ...