NEW YORK—For the second straight weekend, Shen Yun Performing Arts is taking over New York’s most famous venue, Radio City Music Hall. Just a few blocks from Times Square and in the heart of the Broadway theater district, Radio City is where over 300 million theatergoers have been going since 1932 to be guaranteed a spectacular performance.
Boldly built by J. D. Rockefeller, Jr. at the start of the Great Depression, Radio City is the largest indoor theater in the world and has been the stage of choice for scores of America’s biggest stars including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ann Margaret, Johnny Mathis, Stevie Wonder, Liza Minnelli and Sting. It’s also played host to the Grammy, Tony and MTV Video Music Awards.
For four years, Radio City has also been the home theater for New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts—the world’s leading classical Chinese dance company.
On Saturday afternoon, Shen Yun once again, did not disappoint New York audiences, including Ron Losby, President of the world’s leading piano maker since 1853, Steinway & Sons (Americas).
Mr. Losby, who has been in the piano business virtually his whole working life, had nothing but the highest praise for Shen Yun’s entirely original score, which is performed by a live 50-piece orchestra that combines Western and Chinese instruments.
“The music is wonderful. It’s different than western music, the tonality is somewhat different, the instruments are somewhat different but it has a calming affect,” he said.
After hearing tenor Tan Ge singing “Will You Come Through,” Mr. Losby called the soloist tremendous.
“It’s the first Chinese tenor I’ve ever heard – absolutely tremendous. I’d say everything I’ve heard is every bit as focused as anything I’ve heard at the Met,” he said, referring to New York’s distinguished Metropolitan Opera House.
Tan Ge was accompanied by a handmade Steinway piano, the choice of nine out of 10 concert pianists.
Shen Yun performs several story-based pieces that portray cherished tales from ancient China and some scenes from the modern day Mainland. Mr. Losby praised Shen Yun for how the music and stories are wed together.
“I’d say it’s actually very creative with the story that is being told and unlike some music—most music, classical, Chopin, etc—there’s no story that goes along with it.”
But Shen Yun is different he said. “It’s just goes hand and glove with the story that’s being told so it’s very nice, it’s all one thing. It’s very expressive.”
“I think that the dance is extraordinary. It’s well choreographed. It’s obviously extremely colorful,” he said. “It’s quite inspiring because obviously there’s a lot of messages behind these dances which I think are very interesting and very different than ballet,” said Mr. Losby who is a frequenter of the ballet.
One of the aspects that makes classical Chinese dance a completely unique system, requiring years of rigorous training, are its challenging aerial moves.
“You can see the training and the musculature of their movements, the tumbling is very athletic,” noticed Mr. Losby.
“It’s a show for everyone, for young and old,” concluded Mr. Losby, adding that people can enjoy it even without experience with Chinese culture. “It’s visually very exciting and quite expressive. I would recommend to anyone who wants to do something a little different,” he said.
Steinway is an American and German company that once had a factory and employee village in the New York borough of Queens, which still has a street bearing the Steinway name. Steinway’s handmade pianos hold more than 125 registered patents—the highest of any company in America—and has earned themselves 12 royal warrants, including being the selected piano of the Queen Elizabeth of England.
With additional reporting by Joshua Philipp.
Shen Yun will perform two more shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sat., Feb. 20, at 7:00pm and Sun., Feb. 21, at 2:00pm.
For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
Boldly built by J. D. Rockefeller, Jr. at the start of the Great Depression, Radio City is the largest indoor theater in the world and has been the stage of choice for scores of America’s biggest stars including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ann Margaret, Johnny Mathis, Stevie Wonder, Liza Minnelli and Sting. It’s also played host to the Grammy, Tony and MTV Video Music Awards.
For four years, Radio City has also been the home theater for New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts—the world’s leading classical Chinese dance company.
On Saturday afternoon, Shen Yun once again, did not disappoint New York audiences, including Ron Losby, President of the world’s leading piano maker since 1853, Steinway & Sons (Americas).
Mr. Losby, who has been in the piano business virtually his whole working life, had nothing but the highest praise for Shen Yun’s entirely original score, which is performed by a live 50-piece orchestra that combines Western and Chinese instruments.
“The music is wonderful. It’s different than western music, the tonality is somewhat different, the instruments are somewhat different but it has a calming affect,” he said.
After hearing tenor Tan Ge singing “Will You Come Through,” Mr. Losby called the soloist tremendous.
“It’s the first Chinese tenor I’ve ever heard – absolutely tremendous. I’d say everything I’ve heard is every bit as focused as anything I’ve heard at the Met,” he said, referring to New York’s distinguished Metropolitan Opera House.
Tan Ge was accompanied by a handmade Steinway piano, the choice of nine out of 10 concert pianists.
Shen Yun performs several story-based pieces that portray cherished tales from ancient China and some scenes from the modern day Mainland. Mr. Losby praised Shen Yun for how the music and stories are wed together.
“I’d say it’s actually very creative with the story that is being told and unlike some music—most music, classical, Chopin, etc—there’s no story that goes along with it.”
But Shen Yun is different he said. “It’s just goes hand and glove with the story that’s being told so it’s very nice, it’s all one thing. It’s very expressive.”
“I think that the dance is extraordinary. It’s well choreographed. It’s obviously extremely colorful,” he said. “It’s quite inspiring because obviously there’s a lot of messages behind these dances which I think are very interesting and very different than ballet,” said Mr. Losby who is a frequenter of the ballet.
One of the aspects that makes classical Chinese dance a completely unique system, requiring years of rigorous training, are its challenging aerial moves.
“You can see the training and the musculature of their movements, the tumbling is very athletic,” noticed Mr. Losby.
“It’s a show for everyone, for young and old,” concluded Mr. Losby, adding that people can enjoy it even without experience with Chinese culture. “It’s visually very exciting and quite expressive. I would recommend to anyone who wants to do something a little different,” he said.
Steinway is an American and German company that once had a factory and employee village in the New York borough of Queens, which still has a street bearing the Steinway name. Steinway’s handmade pianos hold more than 125 registered patents—the highest of any company in America—and has earned themselves 12 royal warrants, including being the selected piano of the Queen Elizabeth of England.
With additional reporting by Joshua Philipp.
Shen Yun will perform two more shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sat., Feb. 20, at 7:00pm and Sun., Feb. 21, at 2:00pm.
For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
