DENVER—Conductor Rick Crompton was thrilled to experience a new style of orchestral music on Sunday by Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Mr. Crompton and his wife Jeannine, who also own a real estate brokerage firm, attended the Feb. 24 performance at the Buell Theater. Mr. Crompton said Shen Yun’s orchestra, which combines traditional Chinese and Western instruments, was the best he’s ever heard.
“The conductor is fabulous, the orchestra was fabulous—so, so wonderful,” he said, adding it was his first time to hear traditional Chinese instruments in an orchestra. “And the composers, the people that did some of the work to bring this music together, mixed with the [dance] perfectly.”
Mr. Crompton has studied music and conducted orchestras and choirs for nearly three decades, a career that saw him take choirs to Rome to perform for the Pope.
He was impressed with all the elements that came together in Shen Yun—the orchestra, the many dancers, digital backdrops, costumes, and props.
“The costuming was fabulous, the music, the conductor is the best I’ve ever heard. The whole thing was magical,” he said.
“I enjoyed the whole thing, basically, because it all [came] together.”
New York-based Shen Yun is a world-renowned classical Chinese dance and music company. Formed in 2006 by artists from around the world, the mission of the company is to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture.
Mr. Crompton enjoyed Shen Yun’s digital backdrops, which are timed precisely to create the illusion that the dancers can jump in and out of the screen.
“The animated backdrop, when they would come in and appear on stage, that was brilliant,” he said. “That was great choreography.”
One of the most memorable moments for Mr. Crompton was a dance entitled Phoenix Fairies, which features graceful female dancers with colorful shimmering skirts, dancing amidst the clouds in a celestial paradise.
“It was magic; the beautiful costumes,” he said. “The brilliant color just grabbed me.”
He also enjoyed the dance Sewing the Flowers of Heaven, which features graceful dancers scattering flowers as blessings for all of humankind. In Chinese mythology, celestial maidens appear as heralds of great tidings, bestowing blessings on humans.
“They looked like flowers; they had a beautiful impression because the costumes were so delicate, when they laid down they looked like petals,” said Mr. Crompton. “I did enjoy that.”
Reporting by Gary Wang and Justina Wheale.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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