London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Spontaneous improvisation, exhilarating energy: Won Il prepares Dionysus Robot for London

Won Il discusses his career over the past decade, including leading the Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra and developing Dionysus Robot, getting its UK premiere at K-Music 2025. He outlines his Sinawi-style composing, collaboration across disciplines, use of video and improvisation, Olympic ceremony experience, and the work’s evolving international versions, aiming to energise audiences through ritual, sound, and movement. [Read More]

London Korean Film Festival 2025 – the detailed schedule

The 20th London Korean Film Festival (LKFF) returns from 5–18 November 2025, featuring Cinema Now, Women’s Voices, a Special Screening, and Dramas of Resistance: The 80th Anniversary of Liberation, a programme co-organised with the Korean Film Archive. You can find the official press release launching the festival here. Below you’ll find a summary of the screenings in the … [Read More]

London Korean Film Festival Announces 2025 Programme

Here’s the official press release for this year’s London Korean Film Festival, released today. This year’s festival is the 20th organised by the KCCUK. You can find the detailed schedule here. London Korean Film Festival announces programme for special 20th anniversary edition Opening Gala (World Premiere) – Frosted Window by acclaimed director Kim Jong-kwan, followed … [Read More]

K-music – the archive

Here are all the concerts that have been part of the K-Music story over the years, together with links to reviews where we have been able to cover the events, or where we have identified reviews on third party websites. Although not branded under the K-music moniker, the series of five Korean concerts presented on … [Read More]

K-music 2025: Seong-Jin Cho – Artist Portrait. Part of LSO Futures

World premiere of a new piano concerto by Dong-hoon Shin, written for Seong-Jin Cho Following his sold-out Barbican recital in 2023, piano superstar Seong-Jin Cho returns to the Barbican for the world premiere of a piano concerto commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) from Dong-hoon Shin—one of Korea’s most prominent contemporary composers—written especially for … [Read More]

K-music 2025: Won Il’s Dionysus Robot

A contemporary ritual where tradition meets technology Renowned composer and multi-instrumentalist Won Il, who inaugurated the very first K-Music Festival in 2013 with the National Orchestra of Korea, returns this year with a daring new work: Dionysus Robot. Inspired by Nietzsche’s philosophy of Dionysus and paying homage to media art pioneer Nam June Paik, Dionysus … [Read More]

Park Jiha joins K-music festival programme

The acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist returns with her latest album All Living Things: Park Jiha‘s fourth album is a radiant sonic meditation on the textures, rhythms, and quiet power of the living world. At the K-Music Festival, Park showcases her mastery of traditional Korean instruments: the piri (a double-reed bamboo oboe), saenghwang (a free-reed mouth … [Read More]

K-music 2025: Hilgeum with Alice Zawadzki

A tapestry of ancient tones and an untamed voice Hilgeum, a rising Korean trio redefining traditional string instruments, will make their London debut at the K-Music Festival, joining forces with the British award-winning singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Alice Zawadzki. Known for her expressive voice and genre-defying artistry, Zawadzki will blend seamlessly with Hilgeum’s rich, textured … [Read More]

K-music 2025: JAMBINAI with London Contemporary Orchestra

Orchestral grandeur collides with post-rock fury. Post-Rock band JAMBINAI make their Barbican debut in a rare and electrifying performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra (LCO) led by Robert Ames—a conductor renowned for his work in contemporary classical music and for collaborations with artists such as Radiohead, Frank Ocean, and Steve Reich. JAMBINAI sound less like … [Read More]

K-music 2025: Okkyung Lee with Mark Fell

A sonic dialogue between cello and electronics. This year’s K-Music Festival opens with a groundbreaking performance featuring Korean cellist and composer Okkyung Lee, known for her genre-defying style, creating vast sonic landscapes that move freely through noise, jazz, Western classical, and her homeland’s traditional and popular music. For the acclaimed festival’s opening night, Okkyung Lee … [Read More]