NTD Television Network will broadcast a Christmas special featuring performances by the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra on the NTD East, NTD West, and NTD UK channels. The special includes the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, the 2019 Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Concert, and the 2018 Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Concert. The programs will air from Dec. 24 to Dec. 26 via cable, satellite, and over-the-air (find your local channel here), and streamed through www.NTD.com, the NTD app, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Sony Smart TV, DistroTV, and others.
Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in New York in 2006 with a mission to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture through music and dance. Every year, Shen Yun produces an all-new performance and tours around the world. Millions have seen Shen Yun’s performances and audience members were left in awe of the performances.
Shen Yun’s all-original compositions feature a perfect harmony of classical music from the East and West. The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto is one of the most well-known classical Chinese concert pieces. The 2019 Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Concert features Shen Yun’s most celebrated original compositions along with timeless orchestral classics by Tchaikovsky, Smetana, and Gounod. The 2018 Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Concert features not only original works inspired by five millennia of traditional Chinese culture and history, but also classics by renowned composers such as Tchaikovsky and Dvorak.
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto is inspired by an age-old Chinese folk tale of the same name. Set during the Jin Dynasty (266–420 C.E.), The Butterfly Lovers is a story about the power of predestined relationships and fate.
Versions of the classic tale have been passed down throughout the dynasties, but they all tell of a young female protagonist, Zhu Yingtai, who disguises herself as a boy to attend classes at an all-male academy. There, she meets a kindhearted classmate named Liang Shanbo.
The two become the best of friends during their years of study, though Zhu manages to keep her true identity concealed. Eventually, discoveries are made and feelings are shared, but circumstances pull the two apart. After a series of dramatic events, however, the hand of fate eventually brings them back together again.
In the 20th century, classical works and operas from the West were introduced to the East. The idea of writing for a Western orchestra soon blossomed in China and The Butterfly Lovers, composed by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, is one of the more successful works to have emerged from that era.
You can watch this classic on the Shen Yun Creations streaming platform. Shen Yun’s Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto features violinist Debbie Jin, conductor Li Xuan, and the musicians of Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra.
Broadcast Schedule
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto
2019 Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Concert
2018 Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Concert
