Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra returned to Taipei, Taiwan, for its last stop in its tour through Asia. On the afternoon of Oct. 3, they performed at the Taipei Zhongshan Hall. The audience cheered in response to the beautiful combination of Eastern and Western music. They also remarked on its immersive qualities and reveled in the music.
Miniature Art Museum Curator Chen Forng Shean runs a Miniature Art Museum in Xindian, Taipei. He is famous for creating tiny works of art, such as this one done on a grain of rice, and the “world’s smallest” dragon.
Shean said, “During the performance, feelings would rise up in my heart and I became excited. Sometimes I felt like I was rising up to the clouds, it was like I was soaring. All my troubles and exhaustion from months of work felt like they were melted away.”
Former Ambassador to France, Michel Ching-long Lu said, “I cannot stop [watching this performance]. How do I explain it? There are only two reasons, the first one is the high level of the performance—it is absolutely world class. We can definitely see this from the performance. What is being presented is Western symphony music, but also with Chinese cultural elements incorporated in it.”
“It was my first time listening to Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra. It was great. With these many people, cultivating a deeper level of understanding is not easy. I was very stunned by this, it was very impressive. Chinese and Western music is very difficult to merge together. The founder of Shen Yun is making a great contribution to music, it’s really amazing,” said an Orchestra conductor, Wang Chihsuan. “The musical composition is great. The ups and downs of the music all touched and stunned people. The string instruments were great. The trumpet and trombone players were especially excellent. They are world class.”
Members of the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra were very happy to have received such a warm welcome in Taiwan. Nearly every performance was fully booked and they were called on to do many encores. Reporters caught up to them at the airport and interviewed Conductor Milen Nachev.
He said, “Every time, when we come to Taiwan it’s [an] absolutely amazing experience. For me personally, and for the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra, because of the quality of the audience. The way that they are accepting our music; the way that they are reacting to our concerts; the way that they have standing ovations at the end of each our concerts and [have] at least two, three encores every time. This time we performed 15 concerts in Taiwan, for a very short period of time, and I’m very happy to share with you that the orchestra is extremely grateful.”
The Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra is based in New York, but performs around the world. It combines Eastern and Western instruments in a full orchestra, complemented by performances of opera singers singing Bel canto.
It started as an accompaniment to the dance performances in Shen Yun Performing Arts. The orchestra has been performing solo since 2012, when it debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York.
NTD News in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report.
