After watching the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 21 in Hsinchu City, Taiwan, architect Lin Yungfu came to see it again on Sept. 26 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He said that it brought him a sense of great joy and peace.
“Through the sharing of music, we can cross boundaries of profession, region, and race, with these kinds of spiritual exchanges, this kind of energy makes me feel particularly wonderful, this part makes me feel especially warm [inside].”
Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra arrived at Kaohsiung half way through its 12-stop tour of Taiwan.
The orchestra is based in New York but performs around the world, and combines Eastern and Western instruments in a full orchestra that accompanies the dance performances of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a traditional Chinese dance and music company.
The orchestra has been performing solo since 2012 when it debuted at Carnegie Hall.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Lina said, “This afternoon was like a beautiful feast—Eastern and Western music blended in a very special, distinctive way. The Western musical instruments and the Chinese traditional instruments integrate to give people a new, pleasing feeling like a breath of fresh air.”
Lu Tsuihui has been a piano teacher for twenty years. She praised Shen Yun saying, “I work and play in an orchestra myself. Every teacher who comes to see the show talks about and invites other teachers to come see the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra. Really, we all look forward to it. Every year the feeling is different, very healing, the whole aura of the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra is just so wonderful.”
“These songs could only have come from heaven. It’s very rare to get the chance to listen to this,” said Huang Chongrong, head of a construction company.
Chen Jinhsi, the chairman of a charity that works with disabled and the elderly agreed. “Only a divine being could create such wonderful, such beautiful musical sounds.”
He explained, “When the sound was quiet, it was like a green field or calm waves, letting people feel very comfortable. But when the music was loud those instruments were very exciting, like the scene of a thousand waterfalls or 10,000 stampeding horses. It made people feel very excited. Especially these pieces, I had never listened to anything like this before. I heard they were original creations. It really, really made me feel, how could this world have something so beautiful sounding? See it and you will agree, believe me. Hear it and you will agree, you will be moved.”
“Very delightful, I feel it really is a divine sound,” said the Vice President of the National Kaohsiung Marine University, Chang Shuenhsiung. “The whole musical arrangement, rhythmic feeling, and the [musical] gradation is very, very clear.”
Bass player Cheng Chunyin was impressed by the coherence of the show, “The music still lingers after the performance. It’s worth coming to see [Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra]. It is completely different from others. Because in the past, Western music was just Western music, symphony music was just symphony music, jazz music, or some folk music—it was all separated. But today’s performance is not like anything from before because [Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra] integrates [styles] like this, it’s totally different. Additionally, matching things well and making any instrument not sound out of place, this is considerably difficult.”
NTD News, Kaohsiung, Taiwan contributed to this report.
