LOS ANGELES—Attending Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company’s Saturday afternoon performance here at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was jazz vocalist, pianist, and composer Peter Clark with his wife, Dallas Clark.
Mr. Clark’s musical career has spanned 50 years and he has toured extensively throughout the world, including several cities in China.
“I go all over the world,” he said, “so I really looked forward to seeing the show here today. It’s wonderful.”
Shen Yun is devoted to the renewal of traditional Chinese culture, bringing it to the world through the arts of music, dance, and song.
“The music is very beautiful, and the feel of the music and the dance is very, very expertly done,” he said. “The meshing of the music with the dance is wonderful.”
As a singer, musician, and composer of pop music and jazz, Mr. Clark said he “appreciates good music, wherever it comes from, and this is beautiful today.”
“The orchestra is sublime, excellent. And you know Chinese musicians and [their] music is very, very high standard.”
The Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra is unique in its blending of Chinese and Western instruments. The Shen Yun website explains: “A Western philharmonic orchestra plays the foundation, while traditional Chinese instruments lead the melodies. The sound produced is uniquely pleasing to the ear. The ensemble at once expresses both the grandeur of a Western orchestra and the distinct sensibilities of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization.”
“The show is very beautiful and I think they’ve captured the essence of ancient Chinese history, as well as bring some of the modern elements, and I’m sure we'll see more in the next half too, which I’m looking forward to.”
Shen Yun also uses a digital backdrop to set the scene for the dance pieces, bringing different environments and scenarios to life.
“The video visuals are wonderful, especially in the Monkey King [How the Monkey King Came to Be], very wonderful how they come out of the screen and onto the stage, very original, and really very spectacular,” he said.
“When we all came to see the show today, I said ‘Be prepared to see something very beautiful and entertaining,’ and that’s exactly what it is.”
“This show is wonderful, and this is the kind of show that America needs, because it gives people an insight into other cultures, and which is something new, because Americans have been very isolationist as far as entertainment, because they’ve provided the entertainment for the world.
“But now the world is caught up, and to see other cultures perform like this, in this country, is going to be very good for everybody.”
Reporting by SOH Radio Network and Albert Roman.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will next perform in San Diego Jan 19-22.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
