South Korean illustrator Suzy Lee won one of the most prestigious prizes given to authors and illustrators of children‘s books Monday. The International Board on Books for Young Children on Monday announced Lee as the 2022 winner of the illustration section of Hans Christian Andersen Award, which is specifically given in honor of the lifetime work of an illustrator. With the award, Lee has become the first Korean to receive or be nominated at the Hans Christian Andersen Award an

Books March 22, 2022

South Korea’s three leading chamber ensembles are set to join forces for a concert in April, according to classical music management company MOC Production. Titled “Quartet Plus,” the concert on Aprill 20 will feature performances by three award-winning quartets -- Novus Quartet, Abel Quartet and Arete Quartet. Abel Quartet will open the concert with Haydn’s Hob III:70 - String Quartet Op. 71, No. 2 in D major. The youngest ensemble, Arete Quartet, will perform Shum

Performance March 22, 2022

  The Korean Symphony Orchestra on Friday is officially adding “national” into its name following the culture minister’s approval earlier this month. The name change for the orchestra, which is under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, has been pushed for several years, but faced opposition from the KBS Symphony Orchestra, which was once the National Symphony Orchestra. Despite being an organization supported by a national budget, the orchestra has been long

Performance March 18, 2022

Concert pianist Kim Sun-wook is poised to hold three recitals in May, Vincero, a classical concert production company, said on Wednesday. At his first recital in Korea this year, Kim will showcase three different colors of three great composers with a program of Schubert’s Four Impromptus D. 899, Albeniz’s ‘Iberia’: Book II and Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor S. 178. The first concert will take place at 5:00 p.m. on May 15 at Seoul Arts Center. General ticketing

Performance March 16, 2022

Cellist Kim Hyo-jeong is set to play familiar favorites when she takes the stage on Sunday for her solo recital. At Sunday’s recital at Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in Seoul, Kim, 26, will perform Mendelssohn’s “Lied Onhne Worte,” Op. 109, Faure’s “Sicilienne,” Op. 78, Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65, and Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 49. “I chose familiar melodies by Mendelssohn and Faure to comfort people who are b

Performance March 16, 2022

Augustin Hadelich, an Italian-German-American violinist and Seoul Philharmonic’s Artist-In-Focus, will take the stage later this month for the first time without any cancellations as a visiting artist since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Five concerts featuring the 37-year-old violinist will take place as planned starting from March 31, an official at SPO confirmed on Monday. During his visit to Korea as SPO’s Artist-In-Focus, he will play a wide-ranging repertoire, includi

Performance March 16, 2022

During the presidential campaign that ended with a narrow victory for opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol early Thursday morning, cultural issues took a backseat as the candidates focused on issues like soaring housing prices and recovery from the ongoing pandemic. But the culture industry, still reeling from the trauma of the previous conservative administrations’ blacklist of artists and cultural figures and hit hard by the pandemic, is urging the incoming administration to provide supp

Culture March 10, 2022

The organizers of Daegu International Musical Festival on Tuesday said it has decided to scrap plans to close the weekslong festival with a Russian musical, joining a growing movement in the art world to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. DIMF organizers said they had planned to introduce the Russian musical, which would have been the first overseas musical in two years at the festival, and that talks had been underway. They declined to name the musical. “We worked hard over t

Culture March 8, 2022

Han Na-yeon, a pseudonym for a 34-year-old office worker, experienced an anxiety attack during a job interview six months ago, almost having a breakdown in front of interviewers. This encounter preceded a months long period of depression and repressed anger. Beginning to wonder if she had anxiety or some other issue, she delved into various online communities in an attempt to get to the bottom of her problem. Following a readily available online test, she was presented with a diagnosis of atten

Technology Feb. 26, 2022

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Hwang Hee on Tuesday said that he plans to officially propose “Culture Olympics” to the International Olympic Committee. Hwang said that he pitched the idea to IOC President Thomas Bach at the Beijing Olympics, saying that an Olympics dedicated to culture would fit the goal of the sports event which brings the global communities together, providing opportunities for athletes to have various exchanges, reduce differences and enhance harmony. &ld

Culture Feb. 22, 2022

Sejong Center for the Performing Arts unveiled Monday a series of plans to revitalize the ageng cultural complex that is facing competition from newer facilities as well as financial difficulties. Ahn Ho-sang, who took the helm of the center in October, said that the Sejong Center faced competition not just from other performance facilities but also digital content platforms such as Nexflix. Ahn, a former CEO of the National Theater of Korea, said it was therefore “inevitable that center

Culture Feb. 22, 2022

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Monday said it will inject another batch of capital to support workers in the performing arts sector, which has been hit hard by COVID-19. The ministry and the Arts Council Korea, a state-run organization dedicated to supporting the arts and performers, will support 2,000 workers in the sector with a budget of 22.8 billion won ($19 million). The latest plan follows three similar three packages in 2020 and 2021, totaling 73.9 billion won which went

Culture Feb. 21, 2022

Park Chan-wook, the director of ‘Oldboy,’ and ‘The Handmaiden,’ unveiled a short martial arts fantasy filmed with Apple iPhone 13 Pro on Friday. “Life is But a Dream ‘’ revolves around an undertaker, played by Yoo Hae-jin, who needs wood to build a coffin for the savior of his village, played by Kim Ok-vin, and digs up an abandoned grave. But while doing so, he accidentally awakens the ghost of an ancient swordsman, played by Park Jeong-min, who want

Film Feb. 19, 2022

Five years after a blacklist of cultural figures drawn up by previous administrations was first revealed, efforts to recover from the scandal and prevent a repeat are still ongoing, the minister of culture, sports and tourism said on Thursday. Culture Minister Hwang Hee named a legislation that guarantees status and rights of artists, which is expected to take effect in September, as the biggest accomplishment. Out of the 85 subtasks that had been set, 62 have been completed while the rest ar

Culture Feb. 17, 2022

The first official chairman of the Asia Culture Center finally took office on Tuesday after years of an interim head system. Lee Kang-hyun became the first chair to lead the organization for the next three years. Previously, ACC was run by several interim heads since it was launched in 2015 as its previous five attempts failed to find a qualified person. ACC, located in the old center of the southwestern city of Gwangju, is a multicultural complex backed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports an

Culture Feb. 16, 2022