The Herald Philharmonic Orchestra’s third annual concert took place at Seoul Arts Center, just as the weather began to warm up to welcome spring on Thursday.Headed by conductor Kim Bong-mee, the Herald Phil presented a two-part concert to an audience of roughly 2,300. The first half was mostly a selection of arias performed by three celebrated tenors. The second was a percussion-heavy set. Conductor Kim Bong-mee directs the Herald Philharmonic Orchestra during final rehearsals at the Seoul Arts

Performance March 4, 2016

Hip-hop and rap showed their strength at the 13th Korean Music Awards held Monday at the Guro Arts Valley Theatre in Seoul.Rapper E Sens was the most surprising win of the night, grabbing album of the year for last year‘s “The Anecdote.” The largely autobiographical 10-track album was received with enthusiasm by both rap fans and critics alike, despite the artist being imprisoned for illegal drug use. E Sens is due to be released in October. “The Anecdote” also won best rap and hip-hop album hon

Performance March 1, 2016

The film “Twinsters,” which made its world premiere at the SXSW festival in 2015, is a documentary about two twins who were separated soon after birth in Busan and adopted by families in the U.S. and France. After 25 years unaware of each other’s existence, they find each other through social media. The story of the vivacious twins Samantha Futerman and Anais Bordier is interspersed with quick cuts, cute graphics, happy music and pastel colors. The twins’ online and offline conversions also appe

Film March 1, 2016

A conventional, rectangular office building may not seem like an attractive design choice when major cities compete to build iconic skyscrapers as symbols of their economic growth. But Reinier de Graaf, partner of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, founded by architect Rem Koolhaas, says the simple form will ironically stand out among other stylish buildings. “When everything is exciting, a non-exciting (design) becomes exciting,” said de Graaf at a public lecture at Daelim Museum in Seou

Arts & Design Feb. 28, 2016

A jewel among the wild grass? A Hungarian historian is convinced that patches of fresco in a Transylvanian church ruin are a rare medieval copy of a legendary masterpiece by Italian maestro Giotto.The fragments found deep in the Romanian region are part of a 14th-century fresco reproduction of Giotto’s “Navicella” mosaic that used to adorn St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Szilard Papp told AFP in Budapest last week.Only three other 14th-century copies of the work, depicting Christ walking on water

Performance Feb. 28, 2016

The pay-what-you-like policy at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will be spelled out more clearly under a settlement of a class-action lawsuit that challenged the museum’s $25 “recommended” admission.Under the settlement reached Friday, the $25 ticket price will be “suggested” instead of “recommended.” In addition, signs will advise visitors that, “The amount you pay is up to you.”Andrew Celli Jr., a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Saturday that the new signage “really opens up the museum t

Performance Feb. 28, 2016

SHINee’s youngest member Taemin is coming back to the stage in his own right with his first studio-length album “Press It.” The 10-track album includes two songs with self-written lyrics, as well as collaboration tracks with top hit-makers including Bruno Mars, Teddy Riley, LDN Noise and The Stereotypes.The record shows Taemin’s growth as a solo performer, with tracks like “Drip Drop” and the lead track “Press Your Number” built to showcase his stage performance skills with heavy beats, and R&B

Performance Feb. 22, 2016

Star producer Na Young-seok describes the four young men he whisked away to Namibia for his tvN show “Youth Over Flowers -- Africa” as being “just kids these days.”In a way, that was what he had intended when he recruited Ryu Jun-yeol, Park Bo-gum, Ahn Jae-hong and Go Kyung-pyo, all castmates on the tvN drama “Reply 1988,” for the third installment of the “Youth Over Flowers” series. Speaking to press at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Seoul on Thursday, Na said he made his decision to take the qua

Television Feb. 19, 2016

　Rainbow“Prism”(Loen Entertainment)　Rainbow is one of those girl groups that everyone seems to like, but just can’t seem to get a break. On their fourth album “Prism,” titled with the hope of each member’s personality (“color”) shining through, the group demonstrates that its slow takeoff was certainly not for want of talent.The first track establishes the members’ vocal skills, with each singer giving a solid performance on a classic K-pop ballad reminiscent of songs from the 2000s. Even withou

Performance Feb. 19, 2016

　SS301"Eternal 5"(Interpark)The three members of SS501 who returned as the unit group SS301 -- Heo Young-saeng, Kim Kyu-jong and Kim Hyung-jun -- may have been away from the scene for seven years, but on their EP “Eternal 5” they showed that they have not lost their touch. Catchy and dramatic, the five tracks follow the latest trends in K-pop, creating structures that highlight their vocal talents.The record starts off smooth with a R&B-infused vibe in “Dirty Love,” then gets big, loud and catch

Performance Feb. 19, 2016

It's a big weekend at the box office. For those who are overwhelmed by all the choices, The Korea Herald offers a guide to the top movies playing on the big screen.DONGJU; The Portrait of a Poet (Korea)Drama. Directed by Lee Joon-ikOpened Feb. 17　Dong-ju (Kang Ha-neul) and Mong-gyu (Park Jung-min) are close friends and cousins who grew up together during the chaotic Japanese colonial era. After the two young men head to Japan to study, their relationship takes on some strain as Dong-ju becomes a

Film Feb. 19, 2016

TEHRAN -- The first train to connect China and Iran arrived in Tehran on Monday loaded with Chinese goods, reviving the ancient Silk Road, the Iranian railway company said.The train, carrying 32 containers of commercial products from eastern Zhejiang province, took 14 days to make the 9,500-kilometre (5,900-mile) journey through Kazakstan and Turkmenistan."The arrival of this train in less than 14 days is unprecedented," said the head of the Iranian railway company, Mohsen Pourseyed Aqayi."The r

World News Feb. 15, 2016

South Korea's national anti-doping body said Monday it will oversee drug testing for all major professional sports starting this year, taking over the reins from the respective leagues.The Korea Anti-Doping Agency (KADA) said it will strive for "transparent testing procedures and reasonable degree of punishments."Until now, governing bodies for professional baseball, football, golf, volleyball and basketball came up with their own doping test protocols and imposed penalties on violators through

More Sports Feb. 15, 2016

North Korean workers at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex were struggling to make ends meet with most of their wages taken away by the government, a defector from the country claimed Monday.The comments by Kim Tae-san, former official at Pyongyang's Ministry of Light Industry, came less than a week after South Korea shut down the joint industrial park in response to North Korea's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. The North, in turn, expelled South Korean workers and froze South Kor

North Korea Feb. 15, 2016

Amid risks over deteriorating market prospects, South Korean conglomerates and state-run firms have decided to expand the scale of new recruits this year.According to industry sources, Hyundai Motor Group plans to hire more than 10,000 employees including interns and experienced managers, who will be given full-time, regular jobs later on.  (Herald file photo)If the nation’s largest carmaker fulfills its pledge of offering regular positions to new hires who are partly contract-based workers, it

Industry Feb. 15, 2016