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]
Category: Festivals (page 2)
K-music Festival 2025: the official press release
Here’s the official press release for the 2025 K-music Festival — with the listings at the end of the release edited to include the late addition of Park Jiha to the programme. K-Music Festival 2025: a bold celebration of Korean sound Now in its twelfth year, the K-Music Festival returns in autumn 2025 with an … [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]
Gray by Silver performs at Viva Blackpool and K-music 2025
Jazz, tradition, and improvisation in poetic conversation The 2024 Best Jazz Album winner at the Seoul Music Awards, Gray by Silver, join the K-Music Festival with their upcoming third album, Time of Tree, blending the emotional depth of traditional Korean music with the expressive language of contemporary jazz and classical. Formed in 2016, Gray by … [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]
Korean club music at SXSW London
At LKL, we’ve been vaguely aware of the existence of the SXSW festival in Texas largely because of the occasional Korean indie artist whose CV includes appearances there. For the very first London edition of SXSW there seems to be a very different vibe, with an evening of electronic club music in Brick Lane curated … [Read More]
Korean films at SXSW London
The organisers of the first London edition of the SXSW festival have done a great job in securing some enticing Korean movies – including two UK premieres and a world premiere – and scheduling them so that you can get to see them all. Here’s hoping there are sufficient interesting movies left for the festivals … [Read More]
Han Collection x Icheon Ceramic for London Craft Week 2025
Han Collection is proudly partnering with Icheon Ceramic to bring Korean works of art of exceptional quality to the UK. Icheon is a small city to the south-east of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Since 2010, it has been designated as a UNESCO City for Arts and Folk Art. It is home to over … [Read More]
Korean crafts at London Craft Week 2025
London Craft Week runs from 12 to 18 May. It’s a great opportunity to meet with some of the finest makers around and appreciate their craft. This year you can visit the V+A on 13 May to see horsehair weaver Dahye Jeong demonstrate her craft. In addition, two exhibitions displaying traditional and contemporary Korean crafts … [Read More]
Korean performers at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival and Fringe
The Edinburgh International Festival has announced its programme for 2025, and the Fringe website is up and running with their acts. Below are the performers with Korean connections that we’ve managed to identify so far. We’ll update this post if we discover more productions – it’s likely that this is not a complete list. 1. … [Read More]
Ilrhan Kim’s “Edhi Alice” closes 2025 Queer East festival
In Edhi Alice (에디 앨리스, 2024), director and queer activist Ilrhan Kim interrogates how documentaries about trans communities are made: the creative decisions, relationships, and ethical questions involved. The subject of the documentary is Edhi, who works as a counsellor for LGBTQ+ teens in Seoul, and has decided to undertake gender reassignment surgery. Edhi’s story intertwines … [Read More]
Andrew Ahn’s The Wedding Banquet – the perfect opening to BFI Flare 2025
BFI Flare launched yesterday with a humdinger of an opening movie: Andrew Ahn’s reimagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 The Wedding Banquet. Ahn’s partner in creating this update, James Schamus, also co-wrote Ang Lee’s version. While the original film features a single gay couple and a marriage of convenience, the reboot has two gay couples, which … [Read More]