KCON, an annual overseas K-pop concert series from entertainment giant CJ ENM, will hit four global cities this year including Tokyo and New York, the company said Friday. This year's KCON, a festival of Korean music and culture, will kick off on April 3 at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture, just outside Tokyo, for a three-day run. For the American leg, KCON will move to New York's Manhattan from June 12-14 before a four-day event in Los Angeles from Aug. 27-30.The show wi

Portrait of a Lady on Fire(France)Opened Jan. 16Drama, RomanceDirected by Celine SciammaFrance, 1760. Marianne (Noemie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the wedding portrait of Heloise (Adele Haenel), a young woman who has just left the convent. Because Heloise is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne approaches her under the guise of companionship, observing Heloise by day and secretly painting her at night. The two women become closer as they share Heloise’s last moments of freedom before th

British rock legends to perform hit songs with vocalist Adam Lambert

The Cultural Heritage Administration announced Thursday it will hold a New Year’s concert at the palace Deoksugung at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.Korean violinist Chung Kyung-wha and pianist Kim Tae-hyung will perform in the first concert of the year at Deoksugung’s Seokjojeon Hall.  The two artists will be performing violin sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart.Admission is by invitation only. The Cultural Heritage Administration said that multicultural families and people with disabilities wh

South Korean biopharma giant Celltrion Group Chairman Seo Jeong-jin has been appointed the director of the board of the Korea National Opera.The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Seo’s appointment Wednesday. His three-year term will run until Jan. 14, 2023.  Seo’s contributions to the cultural sector include a 3 billion won ($2.5 million) investment in the 2016 film “Operation Chromite” through Celltrion Entertainment as well as developing expertise a

Will stand-up comedy shows return to mainstream?

Girl band GFriend will release a new album next month, the six-member group's first music release under its new agency, Big Hit Entertainment, the band's agency said Thursday. GFriend is on its way to release "回: Labyrinth" on Feb. 3, the first release since the last album, "Fever Season," in early July last year, according to Source Music.  It also is the group's first release since Source Music was merged into Big Hit, the music label of BTS, later that month.Pre-order

Pre-orders for K-pop super band BTS' upcoming album hit an all-time high of 3.42 million copies within a week after it became available, the album's distributor said Thursday.Since pre-orders for "Map of the Soul: 7," the upcoming fourth full-length album by BTS, began on Jan. 9, the accumulated orders for the album have surpassed more than 3.42 million copies as of Wednesday, according to Dreamus Company, which is in charge of the BTS album's distribution. The number includes pre-orde

The World DJ Festival, is returning to Seoul this summer, bigger than ever.The organizers of World DJ Festival 2020 -- its 14th edition -- said Seoul will see three separate shows, starting with a prefestival concert at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium in the southern Seoul on April 30. The event will take place as part of the Formula-E Championship, an electric vehicle racing championship being held in Seoul for the first time. The World DJ Festival will resume May 30-31 and again on April 6-7, at th

The National Theater of Korea is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year by presenting numerous programs by various performing art troupes. The National Theater Center, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is the hub of Korea’s performing arts scene, with the National Changgeuk Company of Korea, National Dance Company of Korea and the National Orchestra of Korea under its wings. Founded in 1950, it is the oldest of its kind in Asia. To celebrate its 70 years of histor

Big Hit Entertainment, the music label of K-pop super band BTS, is scrambling to expand its business portfolio of K-pop artists following a sensationally successful year in 2019.A media report said earlier this week that Big Hit is on its way to acquire and merge with Pledis Entertainment, home to an army of popular K-pop bands including NU'EST and Seventeen. Pledis was established in 2010 by Han Sung-soo, who worked as a manager of K-pop diva BoA under South Korea's biggest K-pop music label, S

Violinist Lee Ji-yoon of Staatskapelle Berlin begins artist-in-residence at Kumho Art Hall Yonsei