Tickets still remain for "Joe Hisaishi Conducts the PSO," September 13 and 14.

Japanese conductor and composter Joe Hisaishi will conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) on September 13 and 14.

Globally renowned award-winning composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, Joe Hisaishi, make his long-awaited debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Hisaishi, who is best known for his epic concert works as well as enchanting film scores, takes to the podium to conduct his own compositions including a new concert version of music from the 2023 Golden-Globe winning Studio Ghibli Film, “The Boy and the Heron,” and the US Premiere of Hisaishi’s work, The End of the World. The PSO will be joined onstage by the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.

The suite The End of the World by Joe Hisaishi was inspired by his visit to New York in the fall of 2007. He began composing the work in 2008. The suite explores the theme of "anxiety and chaos" resulting from the collapse of world order and values caused by the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Joe Hisaishi says : “I am honored to join Pittsburgh Symphony this Fall for the first time. The centre of the concert, my End of the World Suite was written for the people of the USA and I’m excited to make the US premiere of this work in Pittsburgh alongside pieces that reflect on this mood as well as new music which I hope this audience will enjoy”

The performances will be September 13 at 7:30 pm and September 14 at 2:30 pm at Heinz Hall in downtown's Cultural District (map). Tickets are available online.

Taiwanese short film Stills Moving (停格人生) in Pittsburgh September 5, and virtually September 5 - 11, as part of ReelAbilities Pittsburgh Film Festival.

The 2024 Taiwanese short film Stills Moving (停格人生) will play in Pittsburgh on September 5, and virtually from September 5 through 11, as part of the ReelAbilities Pittsburgh Film Festival. A synopsis, from the filmmaker:

A sculptor was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), facing this inevitable pain, the artist put her heart into her next work, a female figurine. As her body weakened, the sculpture, starts moving and open her eyes.

It plays on September 5 along with five other short films at Pittsburgh Playhouse downtown (map). Tickets for the in-person and virtual screenings are available online.

2023 Celine Song Oscar-nominated film Past Lives in Pittsburgh, September 12 - 18.

The 2023 Celine Song Oscar-nominated film Past Lives will play at the Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville from September 12 to 18, part of the theater's The Immigrant Experience film series.

Subtle and moving, Greta Lee stars in Celine Song’s deeply human story of two childhood friends who are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.

Tickets are available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler St. (map).

C.Ryu and Kayla Tange Presents: Futurity of the Womb: Myth of the Cyborg Kisaeng, August 30 at Kelly Strayhorn Theater.

The Kelly Strayhorn Theater will host "C.Ryu and Kayla Tange Presents: Futurity of the Womb: Myth of the Cyborg Kisaeng" on August 30.

Futurity of the Womb: The Myth of the Cyborg Kisaeng is an experimental, 60-minute multimedia performance that reimagines Korean history through the lens of feminist mythology. Blending ritual, burlesque, speculative fiction, and mythology, the piece unfolds in four sections, interweaving live performance, video projection, and audience interaction. 

Traditionally, kisaengs were enslaved Korean courtesans, forced to entertain those in power while mastering the arts. Futurity of the Womb is a time-traveling performance that redefines the kisaeng’s legacy beyond the constraints of history. The cyborg becomes a vessel for interrogating our codependence with technology and identity, reflecting on power manufactured by human limitations. 

• Mudang Jenn Kim, a Korean-American shaman, invokes the first cosmic mother of Korea, MAGO,  who was shamed for her larger-than-life power.
• Kayla Tange merges the kisaeng and abandoned Princess Bari to explore grief and adoption as a portal, dwelling in the space between the living and the dead.
• C. Ryu reimagines the gumiho, a nine-tailed fox demon that consumed men’s livers and hearts to survive, as a cyborg—alchemizing complicit desire.

Futurity of the Womb offers not a single narrative, but a timeline rewritten—a mythos where stories once censored emerge alive, electric, and here. This is not a return to history—it’s a reprogramming.

**Funding for the “Futurity of the Womb: Myth of the Cyborg Kisaeng” was provided by the Exposure Artists Program of The Pittsburgh Foundation. An additional thank you for the support provided by the Pedantic Arts Residency. 

Photo Credit: Brendan Lott & C. Ryu

Content Warning: This event is for ages 18+ due to nudity, sex work, gore, and demonology storytelling.

Content Warning: This event includes strobing lights and loud sounds.

The performance runs from 7:30 to 8:30 pm and tickets are available online. The Kelly Strayhorn Theater's Alloy Studios are located at 5530 Penn Ave. in East Liberty (map).

 

1963 Japanese film High and Low (天国と地獄) in Pittsburgh, August 14 to 20.

The 1963 Japanese film High and Low (天国と地獄) will play in Pittsburgh from August 14 through 20, the third in a series of five classic Kurosawa films at the Harris Theater July through September.

Shoe company exec Toshiro Mifune is in the midst of a mortgage-everything takeover battle when the phone rings with a giant ransom demand for his son — but then in walks... Adapted from an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel, this is the ultimate kidnap movie, with Kurosawa at the peak of his filmmaking powers: moral battles rage in a first hour almost totally confined to a single room jammed with distraught family, cynical advisers, and recorder-wielding cops led by super-cool detective Tatsuya Nakadai; the de rigueur money transfer aboard the Shinkansen (bullet train); sweaty police conferences shot in deep focus; a near-invisible drug pass in a jammed dance hall; and the jailhouse interview punctuated by the heaviest steel door closing in film history. High and Low is a virtuoso work that’s also a deeply moral one, exploring the meaning of “justice” in a society defined by vast economic disparity.

Tickets for the film are available online. The Harris Theater is located at 809 Liberty Ave. in downtown's Cultural District (map).

University of Pittsburgh to host Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in December.

The University of Pittsburgh will host the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) on December 7, offering a rare opportunity for test-takers in and around western Pennsylvania. Registration is set to open August 13 for the highest level, N!, with other levels to open throughout the month.

The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) was developed in Japan, and has been offered since 1984 in countries all around the world as a means of evaluating the proficiency of non-native learners of Japanese.

Registration now open for Yanlai Dance Academy's 2025-2026 season of classes, including Kpop, Chinese dance, and ballet.

Registration now open for Yanlai Dance Academy's 2025-2026 season of classes, which will begin September 4.

Registration is open for Yanlai Dance Academy. Email or call us to register today for a new year of classes, performances, and community!

From Chinese dance to ballet and Kpop, we've got your dance skills covered from West to East. See more details on our website. Yanlaidanceacademy.com

Registration information is available on the school's website. Yanlai Dance Academy is a dance school in the North Hills that has long specialized in traditional and contemporary Chinese dances for all ages, as well hosting as Kpop sessions and adult dance troupes. It is located at 2260 Babcock Blvd. (map).

KPOP CLUB NIGHT with DJ Chen returns to Pittsburgh, October 3.

KPOP CLUB NIGHT with DJ Chen will return to Pittsburgh on October 3.

Come and get it! Get ready for Round 2 in PGH at AVALON SOCIAL!! Join mixmaster DJ CHEN and the world-famous Kpop Club Night crew on October 3rd to sing and dance our hearts out!

This is a 21+ event. 
Doors open 10pm, curfew 2:00 am.
Physical government issued ID required. 
No Refunds. Tickets are transferrable.

Early bird tickets are now available through August 15, with other sales beginning August 16. Avalon Social is a club located at 1601 E. Carson St. in the South Side (map) in what was most recently Foxtail.

KPop Demon Hunters A Sing-Along Event in Pittsburgh, August 23.

The feature-length film KPop Demon Hunters A Sing-Along Event will play in the Pittsburgh area on August 23.

When they aren't selling out stadiums, Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey use their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat. Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet -- an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise.

The 95-minute film plays locally at the Cinemark theater in Monroeville, and tickets are available online.

1988 film Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓) in Pittsburgh, August 10 - 12.

The 1988 film Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓) will play in Pittsburgh-area theaters from August 10 through 12, the next installment of Ghibli Fest 2025. A synopsis, from the distributor:

When an American air raid kills their mother in the final days of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his 4-year-old sister Setsuko are left to fend for themselves in the devastated Japanese countryside. After falling out with their only living relative, Seita does his best to provide for himself and his sister by stealing food and making a home in an abandoned bomb shelter. But with food running short, the siblings can only cling to fleeting moments of happiness in their harsh reality.

Based on the personal accounts of survivor Nosaka Akiyuki, Grave of the Fireflies is hailed as one of the most stunning contributions to animation and cinematic history. Deftly depicting the beauty of the human spirit as well as its devastating cruelty, Grave of the Fireflies is a singular work of art from Academy Award-nominated director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata.

It plays locally at the AMC Loews Waterfront, Waterworks Cinema, Chartiers Valley Luxury 14, and the Cinemark theaters in McCandless, Monroeville, and Robinson. Tickets are available online.