Korean pansori pop band Leenalchi (이날치) in Pittsburgh, November 2.

The Korean pansori pop band Leenalchi (이날치) will perform in Pittsburgh on November 2, part of its world tour spanning Canada, the US, Europe, and an August show in Incheon. A brief biography, from the band's official site:

Imagine a musical version of Hamlet set to a juicy, tripped-out bass hook.

The psychedelic riffs are courtesy of Jang Young Gyu (that’s Mr. Jang to you), Leenalchi’s enigmatic leader. Born in 1968, Mr. Jang has witnessed the unprecedented popularity of Korean culture reach every corner of the planet from within. Even on this EP, you’ll find evidence of that reach in their cover of “Let’s Live for Today” by Los Angeles rock band, The Grass Roots. Leenalchi’s version was originally recorded for Kagonada’s acclaimed adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s bestselling novel, Pachinko, and was used as the theme song in the final episode.

In a landscape dominated by the K-pop industry, Mr. Jang represents the country’s small but dedicated indie music scene; he is also a prestigious film composer, scoring soundtracks for some of Korea’s most celebrated movies like Train to Busan, The Wailing, and The Good, the Bad, the Weird.

The band performs at 8:00 pm at the Warhol Museum, part of its Sound Series. Tickets are available online. The Andy Warhol Museum is located at 117 Sandusky Street on the North Shore (map).

Author Kelly Yang in Pittsburgh October 22, part of Words & Pictures series.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures will present author Kelly Yang on October 22, part of its Words & Pictures series.

Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.

Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.

Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they’ve been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.

Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?

It will take all of Mia’s courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and pursue her writing dreams?

Kelly Yang is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of the Front Desk series, winner of the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature. Her books include Front Desk, Three Keys, Room to Dream, Parachutes, New From Here, and other middle grade and young adult novels. She was born in China and grew up in Los Angeles. She went to college at the age of 13 and graduated from UC Berkeley at the age of 17 and Harvard Law School at the age of 20. After law school, she founded The Kelly Yang Project, a writing and debating program for children in Asia. Prior to becoming a novelist, she wrote for many years for the South China Morning Post, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

The talk starts at 6:00 pm and will be held at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland (map)  The event is free but registration is required.

2006 Japanese animated film Paprika (パプリカ) in 35mm at Row House Hollywood, June 27 and 28.

The 2006 Japanese animated film Paprika (パプリカ) will play at the Row House Hollywood on June 27 and 28, part of its MegaScreen series of screenings in 35 mm.

Experience cinema on our premium large format screen. Our main auditorium has 389 seats, a balcony, a top of the line digital projector, and 35/70 mm film capabilities

Tickets for the Satoshi Kon film are available online.

Satoshi Kon’s anime thriller stars a young dream detective named Paprika, who must stop terrorists from using a stolen machine that allows therapists to enter their patients’ dreams. The reality and dreams blur, and chaos breaks out in a not-so-far-off future.

The Row House Hollywood is located at 1449 Potomac Ave. (map), one block south of the Potomac T Station.

Japanese rock band Nemophila in Pittsburgh, July 4.

The Japanese rock band Nemophila will play in Pittsburgh on July 4, part of their North American tour.

NEMOPHILA’s music can be described as a mixture of various styles ranging from loud rock to grunge. The band displays a sound heavier than hell, while presenting a soft and gentle-cute character at the same time.

The band aims to exhibit an unpredictable mixture in their appearance and fashion along with a positive heavy metal sound bringing a smile to everyone around the world!

They will play at Crafthouse Stage & Grill in Whitehall (map), and tickets are available online.

Author R.F. Kuang returns to Pittsburgh, September 10, part of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures "New & Noted" series.

Author R.F. Kuang will returns to Pittsburgh on September 10 as part of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures "New & Noted" series.

College freshman Lily Chen is off to spend the summer in Taipei at an intensive language program like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to connect with the culture she inherited but never fully understood. But a promising start quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate is driving her insane, and a reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon has her classmates viciously gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in a country she thought would feel like home.

Then shocking news arrives: Lily’s grandfather has passed away. The loss forces her to grapple with now-unanswerable questions about her family history. As Lily grieves, she’s drawn into a journey of self-discovery—piecing together memories, stories, and silences over a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection.

Taipei Story asks: What if the diaspora fantasy of homecoming never comes true? What if learning a language can’t bring you any closer to the people you’re trying to reach? What if you search for your family’s history, but your family doesn’t want to share? What if you wait too long to ask the right questions? As Lily struggles for answers, her summer becomes a poignant search for understanding—of herself, her family, and the meaning of home.

The event starts at 7:00 pm and will be held at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland (map). Tickets are available online and purchase includes a copy of Taipei Story. 

Korean Liberation Day Celebration at Carnegie Museum of Art, August 15.

Photo by Sunni Park, via brookstakahashi.com.

The Carnegie Museum of Art will host a Korean Liberation Day Celebration in Perilla People’s Garden on August 15.

Korean Liberation Day (Gwangbokjeol) commemorates the liberation from Japan’s colonial rule of 35 years. To celebrate Korean Liberation Day, we will host an ice cream party in the garden. The ice cream features the flavors of perilla seeds.

The event starts at 6:00 pm and is free and open to the public.

The Perilla People's Garden is an exhibit in the 59th Carnegie International by Pittsburgh artist Ginger Brooks Takahashi,

whose Perilla People's Garden is an expression of her intersecting interests in gardening, culinary arts, ethnobotany, colonial histories, and contemporary conditions of migrations.

More information about the garden and its progress is available on the artist's website.

Artist in Exile: Mai Khôi & the Dissidents farewell show, July 8 at City of Asylum and online.

City of Asylum will present Artist in Exile: Mai Khôi & the Dissidents (Vietnamese Pop) on July 8.

Pittsburgh’s resident pop star and powerhouse Mai Khôi is leaving the city and starting her next chapter in Philadelphia—but not without a rockin’ farewell show. The alumna City of Asylum Artist-in-Residence returns with her group, the Dissidents.

Mai Khôi & the Dissidents was originally formed in 2016 with Vietnamese musicians, but the group was forced to disband due to government pressure. Khôi herself fled to the US in 2019, where she has lived in exile ever since. In 2021, she re-formed Mai Khôi & the Dissidents with American musicians, alongside pianist and composer Mark Micchelli. The new band features prominent members of Pittsburgh’s jazz, experimental music, and activist communities. For this performance, Mark and Khôi have composed and arranged a powerful style of music that reflects the turmoil of the world and the hope that continues to shine.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see Mai and Mark in their farewell show and give them a warm sendoff!

The concert runs from 7:00 to 8:30 pm at Alphabet City on the North Side (map) and online. Registration for both modalities is required and can be completed online.

Chan Sze-Wei documentary 10s Across the Borders in Pittsburgh, June 23.

ReelQ and the City of Asylum will present a screening of the 2025 documentary 10s Across the Borders on June 23.

Set in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia. New York and elsewhere, “10s Across the Borders” is a pan-Asian queer film that confronts homophobia, transphobia, and racism while celebrating the region’s underground ballroom culture. As the title suggests, Sze-Wei Chan envisions a world where members of Ballroom communities far from New York can also score a perfect 10.

This film follows three leading characters of Southeast Asia’s ballroom scene—Teddy from Malaysia who ran away from his homophobic father, Xyza from the Philippines who found beauty in herself after being rejected by the modeling world, and Sun who was born to a Thai sex worker mother and European father.

In the film’s finale, the performers’ surreal performance cuts between Southeast Asia’s back alleys and New York’s bustling streets, dissolving boundaries of nation, gender, race, age, religion, and class to soar beyond the rainbow. This is Southeast Asia’s answer to the seminal documentary, the 1990 classic Paris is Burning.

Reel Q hosts one of the oldest LGBTQ+ film festivals in the world. Since 1985, Reel Q has remained steadfast in their mission and worked diligently to highlight the diverse experiences of our worldwide community. For the better part of a decade, City of Asylum has been partnering with Reel Q to bring unique, international queer films to audiences (for free!) in a series formerly known as “Reel Stories.” From dramas to documentaries to playful rom-coms, we are honored and delighted to serve as a platform for these beautiful works to reach new audiences.

More information about the documentary is available via its official site. The screening runs from 7:00 to 8:30 pm, both in person and online via livestream, and is free and open to the public. The in-person screening will take place at Alphabet City on the North Side (map). Registration for both modalities is required and can be completed online.

"We Learn" Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Korean classes resume at Carnegie Library in Oakland, Saturdays from June 20.

via the Republic of Korea's Flickr page.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branch in Oakland will resume its free "We Learn" Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Korean classes Saturdays from June 20 through August 29, after its most recent session concluded on May 9. 

Korean bluegrass band Country Gongbang in Pittsburgh, June 13.

The Korean bluegrass band Country Gongbang will play in Pittsburgh on June 13, part of the Three Rivers Arts Festival.

Country Gongbang is South Korea’s first and only bluegrass band, pioneering a distinctive blend of contemporary bluegrass with K‑pop sensibilities. Singing in both English and Korean, the group bridges musical cultures while carving out a unique voice in the global bluegrass scene.

In 2023, Country Gongbang received the International Band Performance Grant from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), recognizing their groundbreaking artistry. The award led to their historic 2024 U.S. tour, where they performed at major venues and festivals, including the legendary Grand Ole Opry in Nashville—becoming the first Korean band to perform on its iconic stage.

In 2025, the group was nominated for the IBMA Momentum Awards for Band of the Year and Vocalist of the Year, marking a historic milestone for a Korean bluegrass ensemble.

The band features Yebin Kim (mandolin, lead vocals), Hyunho Jang (banjo), Jongsu Yoon (fiddle), Sunjae Won (guitar), and Keeha Song (bass).

Blending tradition with bold innovation, Country Gongbang brings a vibrant new perspective to bluegrass music.

“South Korea’s Country Gongbang demonstrates that the basics of bluegrass aren’t limited exclusively to the realms of the western world.”
— Bluegrass Today

 The show runs from 6:00 to 7:00 pm at Dollar Bank Stage @ Arts Landing.