Shen Yun Performing Arts started its second week in New York City’s Lincoln Center on April 12. Audience members from the music industry praised the performance.
“So I’m better person today because of this performance,” said Sándor Szabó, who is a conductor, organist, pianist, and harpsichordist.
“It was just so thrilling an experience to see that discipline connected with emotions. And it was a very powerful performance.”
“This is the best reward for ourselves,” said Marcelita Lopez-Kabayáo, who is a Steinway Artist and a concert pianist. “Not only was it technically perfect but the humanity.”
“One of the best I’ve ever seen in my life,” said opera singer Erik-Peter Mortensen. “You’re telling a wonderful story but you integrate many disciplines: the movement, you integrate music, and storytelling, and mythic scenery and wonderful special effects that make it a very cinematic experience.”
As musicians themself, they were captivated by Shen Yun’s live orchestra and a certain Chinese instrument—the Erhu. Erhu is a two-stringed instrument that can surprisingly express a wide range of sounds and tones.
“[The Erhu is] so expressive, so legato, very heavenly. And it’s like the human voice weeping, or dancing, or playing, or singing for love … [to] express all kinds of emotions. It can be fun and frivolous, but can also be deep and very longing. So it’s one of my new favorite instruments, having heard it live by a world class performer,” Mr. Mortensen said.
“It was very inspiring, the live orchestra is always much more exciting because they can never play twice the same. So dancers cannot also dance the same. So every performance is [such a] unique experience for everybody: dancers, and musicians, and audience,” Mr. Szabó said.
The conductor also expressed appreciation for the Erhu: “I’m just so blown away with the expressiveness of the Erhu player who played today. She was just an amazing musician. It was played from her soul, and we are thoroughly moved.”
The audience members all said that New York-based Shen Yun is more than a performance—they felt inspired.
“We feel how humanity and love for each other is important. Very often, we forget that with the incredible pace of life. But this [Shen Yun] reminds us that we have to love each other to make the world a better place. And this type of performance is helping us to see that more clearly,” Mr. Szabó said.
“There’s a lot of spiritual depth to your lyrics … a lot of your scenes, a lot of your dance numbers also reflect this. There’s a deep spiritual connection with the Earth, with the Divine. And it’s a universal expression of what the human soul longs for,” Mr. Mortensen said.
“Everybody was so full of spirituality—not just virtuosity, but spirituality. I liked it very much,” Ms. Lopez-Kabayáo said. “We want to thank you very much for giving me so much joy. In this time of difficulty, this is a reward from heaven.”
Shen Yun will perform at the Lincoln Center through April 16.
NTD News, New York
