Pandemic is wake-up call for musicians: Korean-German cellist Isang Enders rethinks playing music organically Cellist Isang Enders / Courtesy of Jino Park Cellist Isang Enders contemplates the importance of the audience, playing music in a way that benefits the Earth By Park Ji-won Poster for cellist Isang Enders' recital / Courtesy of TLi Art Center For cellist Isang Enders, music is genetic. His German father and Korean mother are both musicians. His parents chose to name their son after the famous Germany-based Korean composer, the late Yun Isang. As indicated in his music-nurtured childhood, his journey to music has been unstoppable ever since he first played the cello at nine years old, following his piano teacher's advice that he would be more suitable for the musical instrument than the piano due to his “thick hands.” When he was 20, Enders was appointed the principal cellist of the Staatskapelle Dresden. The news came as a surprise to many who weMar 16, 2021By Park Ji-won
SeAH Woon Hyung Lee Foundation to hold online concert Promotional poster for a performance of the opera “The Marriage of Figaro” by the SeAH Woon Hyung Lee Foundation, March 20 / Courtesy of SeAH Woon Hyung Lee FoundationBy Kim Jae-heun The SeAH Woon Hyung Lee Foundation will bring Mozart's comic opera “The Marriage of Figaro” to the stage without a live audience March 20 as part of its “Opera Bucket” series at the Seoul Arts Center. The concert will be aired online on Naver TV and YouTube starting from 7 p.m. on the day.Opera Bucket concerts were first started in 2015 to inherit the will of Lee Woon-hyung, the late SeAH Group chairman and an avid opera fan. This year marks the sixth such concert to be held. Many classical music performances have been canceled here since last year due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. However, the SeAH Woon Hyung Lee Foundation decided to hold the concert without an audience to help local opera singers who have not been able to perform for some time. This year, the Opera Bucket will tackle the popular “The Marriage of Figaro.” Unlike typical opera pMar 9, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Koreana member Lee Yong-gyu loses battle with cancer Lee Yong-gyu, second from right, of mega 1980's Korean pop group, Koreana, is pictured here with fellow members. Korea Times fileBy Park Han-solSinger Lee Yong-gyu, a member of mega 1980s Korean pop group Koreana, died last week after battling cancer. He was 67.The entertainer passed away at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, Wednesday.The group Koreana is best known for performing the official theme song of the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics “Hand in Hand,” produced by the world-renowned Italian composer and songwriter Giovanni Giorgio Moroder.After its release, the song topped the music charts in a number of countries, including Sweden, then West Germany and the Philippines, selling more than 16 million copies worldwide.The band also drew attention from the public for its performances of “The Day,” a theme song of the 93-day-long international Daejeon Expo in 1993, as well as “We Are One” (1996) to promote Korea's 2002 FIFA World Cup bid.Before renaming themselves Koreana, the group was known as Arirang Singers. It gained a reputation in Europe in the 197Mar 7, 2021By Park Han-sol
K-pop fans hung out to dry over Kakao-Spotify music licensing termination A close-up image showing the Spotify Music app on an iPhone in Kaarst, Germany, Nov. 08, 2017 (reissued 01 March 2021). EPA-YonhapLast weekend, global K-pop fans on Spotify faced a blackout of hundreds of songs by popular artists, including Zico, Mamamoo and IU, after the Swedish audio giant's licensing agreement with South Korea's top music distributor Kakao M Corp. came to an end.While some music has since been restored under artists' separate labels, Spotify Technology SA and Kakao M, now known as Kakao Entertainment Corp., said discussions for a new deal are ongoing.Online K-pop forums and social media have been abuzz about the move, with artists, such as Epik High's Tablo, voicing complaints over the removal. "Why is it always the artists and the fans that suffer when businesses place greed over art?" the hip hop artist tweeted earlier this week.The conflict is the latest development since Spotify's turbulent landing in South Korea ― the sixth largest music market in the world ― early last month.Spotify landed in the country without securing a licensing agreement for the local mMar 5, 2021
Cho Seong-jin named world's most popular pianist Pianist Cho Seong-jin performs at the digital 2021 Mozart Week held in Salzburg, Austria, on Jan. 27 / Universal Music By Park Ji-wonKorean pianist Cho Seong-jin was voted the world's most popular pianist, according to a poll by a London-based music website, Monday.The uDiscoverMusic.com music portal, operated by Universal Music Group, announced that Cho was ranked No. 4 out of the top 25 classical musicians in the world in the first poll of its kind called the “uDiscover Classical 100” to determine the world's favorite classical musicians. Cho ranked the highest among pianists. The poll was conducted with 11,000 participants from around the world between November and January.Meanwhile, German-born violinist David Garrett was at the top of the list while Italian opera tenor Andrea Bocelli and Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu ranked No. 2 and 3 respectively.Cho, who has been enjoying worldwide popularity since winning the 17th International Frederic Chopin PiMar 1, 2021By Park Ji-won
Classical musicians launch YouTube channels Soprano Jo Su-mi talks about BTS' V in one of her YouTube videos. Screen capture from Jo Su-mi's YouTube channelBy Park Ji-wonRenowned classical musicians are launching their own YouTube channels amid the pandemic to interact with fans.Grammy Award-winning Soprano Jo Su-mi launched her YouTube channel in December. Starting with a video of herself singing Christmas carols on Dec. 27, she has uploaded five videos, including three BTS-related ones.Jo is one of a few classical musicians who are active on social media to talk directly with fans.Award-winning pianist and artistic director Son Yeol-eum also launched a YouTube channel last September, which has already attracted more than 51,500 subscribers. She shares videos of her performances while uploading vlogs of her ordinary life. One of them already has more than 160,000 views.Violinist Kim G-yoon, who is based in Seoul, launched her channel in 2018 and has been sharing behind-the-scenes stories of her performances and videos of her practicing.YouTube channels for classical music have been normally considered a means to upload perforFeb 16, 2021By Park Ji-won
Rare classical music to be performed at biannual concert By Park Ji-wonPoster for “Music in PyeongChang Winter Festival” Courtesy of MPyC“Music in PyeongChang Winter Festival” (MPyC), a classical concert directed by award-winning pianist Son Yeol-eum, features classical music that may not be familiar to many people in Korea. MPyC will be performed at Alpensia Concert Hall in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, from Feb. 5 to 7 as well as on its YouTube channel. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule for the venue was shortened to three days and only Korean artists will perform.Under the theme “Sweet Silence,” Handel's “9 German Aria” will be performed on the first day of the event by talented performers such as soprano Im Sun-hae, who comes from Gangwon Province; violinist Yang In-mo, the winner of the 54th Premio Paganini International Violin Competition in 2015; cellist Lee Hoe-chan; and pianist Park Sang-wook. On the second day, under the theme “Meditation,” Novus Quartet, one of the leading chamber orchestras in Korea, will showcase string quartet repertoires including GuillaumFeb 4, 2021By Park Ji-won
Cho Seong-jin to premiere unreleased work by Mozart Pianist Cho Seong-jin / Korea Times file By Kwon Mee-yooPianist Cho Seong-jin will premiere an unheard piece by Mozart in Salzburg on the occasion of the classical composer's 265th birthday.Cho will play Mozart's Allegro in D K626b/16 at the Great Hall of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation, Wednesday, which mark's the Austrian composer's birthday as well as the opening date of the first-ever virtual edition of Mozartwoche, or Mozart Week, festival."It is a great honor to be invited to give the premiere of a formerly unknown work by Mozart in the city of Salzburg, where the composer was born," Cho wrote on Twitter, Friday.Rolando Villazon, a Mexican-born French tenor who serves as artistic director of Mozartwoche, invited Cho to the online festival, which presents Mozart's works in 10 concerts, featuring some of the world's best Mozart interpreters."The world premiere of the Allegro in D is the icing on the birthday cake for our beloved Mozart. I am thrilled it will bJan 24, 2021By Kwon Mee-yoo
Popera singer Lim Hyung-joo: Music is my destiny Lim Hyung-joo / Courtesy of Universal MusicBack in February 2003 at the inaugural ceremony of then President Roh Moo-hyun, a soft and lyrical voice followed a prelude of the national anthem of South Korea played by an orchestra.With his high and clear tone catching the ears of TV viewers, the singer's unfledged, young appearance also amazed South Koreans watching the event livestreamed nationwide.He was Lim Hyung-joo, who made his popera debut at the age of 17. He rose to stardom instantly after performing at the ceremony. He was the youngest singer who has ever sung the national anthem here."That was one of the few onstage performances that I remember every single moment," Lim, who is now 34 years old, said in a telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency, Wednesday. "And a few months later, I had a solo concert at New York's Carnegie Hall as the youngest vocalist to perform at the venue. It was really amazing, too."But his musical career started far earlier. His first album, "Whispers of Hope," was released in 1998 when he was 12.Lauded as a musical prodigy, he went to Yewon SchoolJan 23, 2021
Lee Hee-moon unveils 4 new music videos Lee Hee-moon's "Bangmulga" from “Not Alone” project / Courtesy of Lee Hee Moon CompanyBy Kwon Mee-yooGenre-bending musician Lee Hee-moon unveils four new music videos in "Not Alone" project in collaboration with E-Won Art Factory.A classically trained singer of pansori (a Korean narrative musical traditional), Lee is renowned for his eccentric performances combining Korean folk music, jazz and rock.The "Not Alone" project visualizes four of Lee's songs reinterpreting Gyeonggi Minyo, or folk songs originated from Gyeonggi Province.The project began as Lee's attempt to reach audiences in a contact-free way as live performances have been canceled one after another amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Under the theme of collaboration and communication, Lee joined hands with experts to convey his songs with kitschy imagery.The first video unveiled on Jan. 5 was "Heosongsewol Maleola" by OBSG, Lee's a project group with folk duo NomNom and band Heosongsewol. It uses chroma a key technique to visualize each performer separated due to social distancing, but connected through musJan 18, 2021By Kwon Mee-yoo
