Ditto evolves with new talent and repertoireBy Kwaak Je-yup Some of the best-looking classical musicians are in town to perform at the third Ditto Festival to be held at various venues around Seoul, starting today. But the real treat at this year’s festival for music aficionados is the new talent and repertoire. The festival marks its third year of a nauseating mix of in-your-face commercialism and classical music, arbitrarily promoted as offering a strictly Romantic French repertoire, with little in evidence. The ensemble that shares the festival’s name and has the central role is actually the only group completely dedicated to 19th-century French composers such as Ravel, Debussy, and Faure. Popularly known for playing to a sold-out audience full of Korean female fans in their 20s with little knowledge of classical music, Ensemble Ditto brings together four young, promising — and good-looking — male artists, Stephan Pi Jackiw, Richard Yongjae O’Neill, Ji-yong, and Michael Nicolas. They are to perform next weekend to close out a week and half of chamber music. Discount the illogical theme anJun 22, 2011
Yesterday surveyed the favorite pop song of Koreans"Yesterday" by the legendary British band The Beatles was selected as the favorite foreign pop song of South Koreans, a survey showed Wednesday. KBS's Broadcasting Culture Institute recently conducted an Internet poll on 26,272 listeners of KBS's "Cool FM" radio and five experts, including a music critic, a composer and a radio producer. The poll found The Beatles' "Yesterday" is their favorite foreign pop song. It was followed by Abba's "Dancing Queen" and Frank Sinatra's "My Way" in that order, the survey showed. Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" came fifth and sixth, respectively. (Yonhap) Jun 22, 2011
Korean boy band hits Abbey RoadLONDON (Yonhap) -- South Korean boy band SHINee put on a showcase at a famed recording studio here Sunday ahead of the release of their first Japanese single this week. In the latest sign of the growing popularity of Korean pop music, or "K-pop," the five-man dance and R&B unit was greeted by hundreds of fans from Britain and other nations around the world at the Abbey Road Studios. The Beatles recorded most of their albums there in the 1960s and renamed their 1969 album "Abbey Road," after the street where the studio is located. S.M. Entertainment, the South Korean company that manages the group, said SHINee are the first Asian artists to perform live at Abbey Road Studios, joining global greats Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, Coldplay and Robbie Williams. SHINee was among the South Korean pop acts who performed in two sold-out concerts in Paris earlier this month. S.M. organized that event. The company's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/smtown) had announced the schedule for the Abbey Road performance last Friday and uploaded a promotional video. SHINee fans flooded the FJun 20, 2011
Pianist brings modern meaning to German RomanticismBy Lee Hyo-won In an age of fast food and instant gratification, Cittaslow (Slow City) movements are gaining momentum from Italy to Korea. Yet, this sense of nostalgia, when one took longer breaths to pass the hours, has been a centuries-old concern that deeply affected 19th-century German Romantics. Pianist Martin Stadtfeld aims to capture the idyllic purity of the period in his latest album “Deutsche Romantik” (German Romanticism; Sony Classical). The young German artist allows the listener to ease into the deep corners of forest glades, with lilting rondos that bring contemporary meaning to Schumann’s “Waldszene” (Forest Scenes), Op. 82. In Liszt’s piano transcription of Richard Wagner’s “Tannhauser” overture, he displays instances of pure pianism, marked by a liquid resignation, quicksilver tones and seamless roulades. “’Waldszene’ is all about the forest, and is pure romantic. It’s about going into the forest and enjoying yourself and nature. ‘Tannhauser’ is a story set in the Middle Age. The Romantics loved the Middle Age, which was regarded as a time of utopia, whenJun 13, 2011
Paris K-pop concerts to be broadcast on YouTubeBy Kwon Mee-yoo The first ever K-pop concerts in Europe will be available to view online this weekend. TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee and f(x) are scheduled to perform at the 6,000-seat Le Zenith de Paris, France, on Friday and Saturday. Immediately after the shows, the edited highlight video clips will be uploaded on an official SM Town YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/smtown) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/smtown). The website also has exclusive photos and footage of their arrival and rehearsals. More than 700 fans welcomed the singers at the Charles de Gaulle Airport, Wednesday. The tour was originally scheduled as a one-time event on Friday, but the agency added another show after French fans held a flash-mob rally. Meanwhile, the company’s Facebook page was featured at Celebs on Facebook, the first time for a Korean page.Jun 10, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Kim gives peace concert in Yeonpyeong IslandBy Chung Min-uck Singer Kim Jang-hoon and a volunteer group of university students held a peace concert at Yeonpyeong Island last Sunday to erase the previous image as a place representing the conflict between South and North Korea. Just one day before Memorial Day, over 500 residents gathered at the island’s sports stadium to see Kim and other artists such as popera (pop and opera) star Lim Hyung-joo perform. All the performers wished for prolonged peace on the Island and the audience answered with a roaring applause. “We declare Yeonpyeong Island a land of peace!”cried out Kim and the members of the volunteer group known as V Expedition. As for the purpose of the concert Kim said, “I felt that Yeonpyeong Island is being deprived of attention after the attack. So I thought of bringing back the attention and arranging a gathering with the people here.” Last November, North Korea fired dozens of coastal artillery shells onto the island along the western border, killing two South Korean marines, two civilians and destroying some 70 homes. Kim and the members of V Jun 6, 2011
Pop stars hold charity concert for NK defectorsBy Park Sung-hee Popular Korean stars will take part in a charity art festival for children from North Korea. The concert, slated to take place at Coex Auditorium, Samseong-dong, Seoul, Saturday, will feature singers, comedians and actors, including K-pop bands Jewelry and December, comedian Seo Kyeong-seok and musical actress Sunwoo. All performers have agreed to give all the proceeds from the festival to help out families in need. The annual event, which began in 2007, aims to provide recreation for socially marginalized groups including multicultural families, teenage North Korean defectors and children from low-income households. It is also designed to raise public awareness about the said groups. Some 70 North Korean teens are slated to attend the concert. In addition to music performances by stars, the lineup also features a martial arts act, percussion band, magic show and acrobatic sequences. “With this concert I hope to bring comfort to the young adults who feel any cultural, social alienation from our society,” said Kim Sun-ae, chairman in charge of the feJun 5, 2011
Chinas classical music scene catching up with KoreaBy Lee Hyo-won China has seen the rise of classical music’s biggest superstars like Lang Lang, and a seasoned cellist says that the arts scene there is trying to catch up with Korea. “The level of music-making in Korea is very high, and the younger generation of cellists is among the best in the world... Classical music in China is about one or two generations behind Korea,” Jian Wang said in a recent interview in Seoul. One of the first classical musicians to emerge from post-Culture Revolution China, the internationally acclaimed musician frequently visits Korea. He was in town this time for the Seoul Spring Festival of Chamber Music, which came to a close Sunday. “Korea has been successful because there is a market here, and soon it is really going to become a super power for classical music.” The 43-year-old joked how “23 percent” of the students at almost any given Western music school were Kims, the most common Korean surname. He noted that these students have returned to Korea as teachers and performers, raising the level of classical music-making here. ThoMay 24, 2011
Extra K-pop concert in Paris sells out in 10 minutesBy Chung Ah-young An extra K-pop concert slated for June 11 in Paris sold out in 10 minutes. “The June 11 concert to be held at Le Zenith de Paris sold all its tickets in 10 minutes after reservations were opened,” SM Entertainment said. SM Entertainment originally planned the K-pop concert on June 10 but the tickets were sold out in 15 minutes. More than 300 French fans who didn’t get tickets held a street rally including a flash mob and group dance to K-pop music in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris, urging the company to add an extra concert. The company decided to hold the additional concert “SM Town Live World Tour in Paris” on June 11. For the second concert, the ticket reservation sites — LiveNation (www.livenation.fr) and FnacSpectacles (www.fnacspectacles.com) — were temporarily shut down due to the explosion of online traffic on May 16. “We’ve reconfirmed the enormous interest from French fans. We hope K-pop groups such as TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, f(x) and Girls’ Generation will spread the ongoing popularity drive from Paris to otherMay 17, 2011
K-pop stars give charity concerts in JapanConcerts featuring K-pop singers with a large Japanese fan base will be held one after another in the neighboring country. Popular bands will take part in a charity event for Japan’s earthquake victims in Tokyo, Saturday. In the first half of the show to be held in the afternoon, boy bands FT Island, 2PM and SG Wannabe as well as girl group miss A will appear. In the evening TVXQ, 2AM, f(x) and IU will grace the second half, while SHINee, Beast and MBLAQ will take part in both parts of the showcase. All proceeds of the event will go to children who lost family members in the recent disaster. At Chiba on Sunday, Japan’s Asian entertainment channel DATV will host the 4th K-Pop Super Live show. The two-part performance will feature Shin Hye-sung, a member of Shinhwa, along with Super Junior and SHINee, among others. Also, the new five-member dance group X-5 will make its Japanese debut through the occassion. On June 7 a concert will be held in Osaka, inviting a dozen K-pop bands including TVXQ, 2PM, MBLAQ, U-Kiss, 4Minute, Beast, f(x) and T-ara. All proceeds fMay 13, 2011