FRANKFURT—Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company presented its opening night performance at the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt am Main on Friday March 30, treating the audience to the grandeur of China’s rich artistic heritage.
Shen Yun, a New York-based performing arts company, is dedicated to the restoration of traditional Chinese culture, all but wiped out after more than 60 years of communist rule, and presents colorful and exhilarating performances of classical Chinese dance and music.
Klaus Sommerfeld and his wife, Christina Sommerfeld, producer and director of the Wiesbadener Kurverein, both retired actors, were in the audience.
Ms. Sommerfeld said after the performance, “The choreography was exceptional, so were the costumes, the colors, the techniques and the precision.”
“Shen Yun is exotic and wonderful,” she added.
Mr. Sommerfeld commented on the music. According to the company’s website, Shen Yun’s one-of-a-kind orchestra, with its all-original compositions, blends East and West like no other. The distinctly Chinese sound of ancient instruments like the erhu and the pipa are bathed in a rich sea of Western strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass.
“I listened to the orchestra, and I could hear Western elements. It is an interesting mixture of instruments,” Mr. Sommerfeld said.
An integral part of a Shen Yun performance are the animated backdrops that use high-tech images that bring scenes of ancient forests, landscapes, prairies and heavenly paradises, according to the Shen Yun website.
“It was amazing when it appeared as if figures came straight out of the rock on the backdrop to appear on stage. That was unique and exceptionally well done,” Ms. Sommerfeld said.
Reporting by Rosemarie Fruhauf
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will next perform in Stockholm, Sweden, April 4-6.
For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
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