BOSTON—Musician Charles Gravenhorst was overwhelmed by the “ocean of beauty and loveliness” of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“I wept in the beginning,” he said. “I’ve never had so much beauty coming at me in just one dose, and it just kept coming and coming.”

“I have never felt that I got a better value from my entertainment dollar than today,” he said. “In all my almost 70 years … I was never more satisfied in the theater than being here today.”

As a former tenor for the San Francisco Opera, Mr. Gravenhorst was amazed by the professionalism of the orchestra and the virtuoso vocalists who sing Chinese lyrics using the bel canto style.

“Just unparalleled … world-class,” he said. “The soprano was just otherworldly … to hear her voice fill this wonderful theater with no microphone—it is just a wonder, it’s a miracle.” He added, “and this is why we will come and fill the theater and pay what we pay.”

“The continuity from beginning to end was like a life being spun out before us, from birth to middle age to maturity: All of the richness of life being portrayed in sound,” he said.

“The marriage between the Western timbre and the Eastern temperament was just very touching for me,” he added, “rather than feeling this sense that you are viewing this exotic far away culture, you felt very close to it as a result … like these were your brothers and sisters, and we are struggling for the same thing: We are struggling simply just to be free, to live as the Creator has made us to be.”

Mr. Gravenhorst was pleased with Shen Yun’s ability to effectively communicate a divine message through the arts.

“When we communicate that which is true, we are communicating the essence of God,” he said.

“There are a lot of organizations that try to communicate a message, and they try to use the arts and they do it in such a way that you are disappointed.”

In regards to Shen Yun, however, he said, “It was a delight to see such excellence today.”