NEW YORK—Eugenia Vergara, a healer, felt healed herself as she listened to Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra perform on stage.
“I was very tearful and emotional from the very beginning,” said Ms. Vegara after attending the evening concert at David Geffen Hall, the last performance of the season.
“For me, it’s a more of a healing, cathartic experience. It’s just a healing frequency that you get to experience,” she said, adding that it was almost an experience of “overwhelm.”
“I am here to experience a healing sensation that is physical, emotional, and spiritual,” she said, adding that the energy she felt from the orchestra was “so very strong.”
The New York-based orchestra is the only one in the world to permanently incorporate ancient Chinese instruments into an otherwise familiar classical orchestra.
The highlight of the program were several original compositions written by Shen Yun Performing Arts’ in-house composers. Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra draws from the musicians of the eight orchestras that tour globally with Shen Yun’s dance groups.
“It’s a beautiful energy, it’s very exciting,” she said. “If you are fascinated with the sounds and the beauty of the sounds, you are going to be in heaven. I’m happy. I’m in heaven … I’m sleeping well tonight.”
Ms. Vegara said it was an experience she would highly recommend, and looked forward to seeing the full Shen Yun performance this upcoming season.
“It‘s an opportunity to immerse into overwhelming sensations of beauty,” she said of the concert, adding that she wanted to thank the artists. “Thank you so much for your dedication and for sharing the gift of music and artistry and healing.”
A Harmonic Feeling
In Chinese, the characters for “medicine” and “music” have the same root. In traditional Chinese culture, music was believed to have therapeutic effects, with certain notes corresponding to certain internal organs.
Thorben Wedderin, a banker, also felt uplifted by the music of Shen Yun.
“It’s just a very harmonic feel. And I feel happy after the concert,” said Mr. Wedderin, who attended the concert with Patty Gurusvasti.
“I cannot say anything bad about it. It’s like you can almost imagine being somewhere in a beautiful landscape, riding on your horse throughout like maybe the Chinese wilderness,” he said. “It was uplifting … Keep on doing what you’re doing. You make other people like us happy.”
Mr. Wedderin and Ms. Gurusvasti said they enjoyed hearing the blend of ancient Chinese instruments and melodies with the Western classical orchestration.
“I’m 100 percent sure that people who listen to this kind of music, they will love it for sure,” Ms. Gurusvasti said.
“It just makes me smile,” she said.
Jeremy Cohn, marketing executive and lecturer at NYU, said the musicians had been remarkable.
“I think it’s a great intersection between the two cultures,” said Mr. Cohn, who attended the performance with his wife Christina Hendershot, and their young daughter, who is studying the violin. “I think music is always the thing that brings people together. I think in a time like this, it’s nice to see that cultural view and music bring that true.”
“It is phenomenal, it is talent, it is overwhelming, very, very, very,” said Ms. Hendershot, who has played the violin for 30 years herself, and greatly admired the violin soloist who performed the “Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto.”
“That was much dedication, much talent, and much discipline,” she said. “It was very inspiring watching her perform.”
With reporting by Lily Yu and Frank Liang.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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