SAN FRANCISCO—Closing night of Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Opera House was given a 6 out of 5 stars from Leon Igudesman, a violinist with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and a veteran theatergoer.
“Oh it is absolutely a six—from one to five it is a six,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Tonight’s performance was a multidimensional, enriching experience for Mr. Igudesman, “It is wonderful. It enriched me because it gave me a different perspective about the Chinese culture, Chinese ethnic music, and Chinese dance and Chinese history,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Having a fine tuned ear for orchestra music, Mr. Igudesman found the Shen Yun Orchestra’s combination of Western and traditional Chinese instruments to be seamless.
“I think it was very homogeneous. I did not feel as if it was two separate groups; it felt really like one orchestra. It sounded very good,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Mr. Igudesman loved the Chinese melodies: “I felt that in the dancing and also in the music, they used the traditional Chinese melodies, ... I loved them all.”
The performance gave Mr. Igudesmana new appreciation for traditional Chinese instruments.
“For me personally the Chinese part was more interesting because Westerner [orchestral music] I play all the time but, for example, Chinese violins and Chinese wind instruments were very interesting and good to hear,“ he said. The ”Chinese violin", or erhu, is a 2-stringed instrument that produces a melancholic sound that is both hauntingly beautiful and stirring.
“Sometimes I go to Chinatown with my Chinese friends. We have lunch in Chinatown. I see street musicians there that are not very good, but now, here, I hear very good Chinese professional—the Chinese violin as it is supposed to sound, which is very nice,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Mr. Igudsman commented in particular on the Plum Blossom dance, where the dancers use the Chinese fan to draw additional feeling in the dance.
Shen Yun performances also include projected animated backdrops that complement the dance pieces with breathtaking scenes.
These backdrops inpressed Mr. Igudesman: “Visually, it was very beautiful,” he said.
“It is a fantastic show. I wish there were more kids in here because not only is it good for adults, but visually it is so spectacular.”
The animated backdrops allow for an added depth, where mystical deities fly onto the stage and in some dances, the backdrops perfectly paint the region of China that is being depicted within the dance.
Mr. Igudesman commented on this interaction between the stage and projections and found it to be spiritually enriching: “It has a deeper meaning that we do not have much of any more in our lives. We go to text, iphone, pop music but what we are missing is the spiritual part, of course, and that’s very dear to me as a musician, as an artist.”
Shen Yun presents traditional Chinese culture—concepts such as good is rewarded and evil is punished and spiritual beings helping to save mankind are part of traditional Chinese culture and are portrayed on stage.
Mr. Igudesman took the following from the performance: “we should always go back to our spiritual life as opposed to our material life and that will make us happy.”
Expressing this idea further, Mr. Igudesman explained his belief that our lives are such a valuable gift and our deaths are merely the payment for that gift: “That is how death is supposed to feel so going to heaven and dying is not necessarily such a horrible thing, it could be a very beautiful thing.”
Mr. Igudesman said he will come back for the next Shen Yun tour through San Fancisco and bring his colleagues. “I would say that it was surprisingly good, and I would recommend all of my colleagues, classical musicians here,” concluded Mr. Igudesman.
Reporting by Abraham Thompson and Dean Tsaggaris.
For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
“Oh it is absolutely a six—from one to five it is a six,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Tonight’s performance was a multidimensional, enriching experience for Mr. Igudesman, “It is wonderful. It enriched me because it gave me a different perspective about the Chinese culture, Chinese ethnic music, and Chinese dance and Chinese history,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Having a fine tuned ear for orchestra music, Mr. Igudesman found the Shen Yun Orchestra’s combination of Western and traditional Chinese instruments to be seamless.
“I think it was very homogeneous. I did not feel as if it was two separate groups; it felt really like one orchestra. It sounded very good,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Mr. Igudesman loved the Chinese melodies: “I felt that in the dancing and also in the music, they used the traditional Chinese melodies, ... I loved them all.”
The performance gave Mr. Igudesmana new appreciation for traditional Chinese instruments.
“For me personally the Chinese part was more interesting because Westerner [orchestral music] I play all the time but, for example, Chinese violins and Chinese wind instruments were very interesting and good to hear,“ he said. The ”Chinese violin", or erhu, is a 2-stringed instrument that produces a melancholic sound that is both hauntingly beautiful and stirring.
“Sometimes I go to Chinatown with my Chinese friends. We have lunch in Chinatown. I see street musicians there that are not very good, but now, here, I hear very good Chinese professional—the Chinese violin as it is supposed to sound, which is very nice,” Mr. Igudesman said.
Mr. Igudsman commented in particular on the Plum Blossom dance, where the dancers use the Chinese fan to draw additional feeling in the dance.
Shen Yun performances also include projected animated backdrops that complement the dance pieces with breathtaking scenes.
These backdrops inpressed Mr. Igudesman: “Visually, it was very beautiful,” he said.
“It is a fantastic show. I wish there were more kids in here because not only is it good for adults, but visually it is so spectacular.”
The animated backdrops allow for an added depth, where mystical deities fly onto the stage and in some dances, the backdrops perfectly paint the region of China that is being depicted within the dance.
Mr. Igudesman commented on this interaction between the stage and projections and found it to be spiritually enriching: “It has a deeper meaning that we do not have much of any more in our lives. We go to text, iphone, pop music but what we are missing is the spiritual part, of course, and that’s very dear to me as a musician, as an artist.”
Shen Yun presents traditional Chinese culture—concepts such as good is rewarded and evil is punished and spiritual beings helping to save mankind are part of traditional Chinese culture and are portrayed on stage.
Mr. Igudesman took the following from the performance: “we should always go back to our spiritual life as opposed to our material life and that will make us happy.”
Expressing this idea further, Mr. Igudesman explained his belief that our lives are such a valuable gift and our deaths are merely the payment for that gift: “That is how death is supposed to feel so going to heaven and dying is not necessarily such a horrible thing, it could be a very beautiful thing.”
Mr. Igudesman said he will come back for the next Shen Yun tour through San Fancisco and bring his colleagues. “I would say that it was surprisingly good, and I would recommend all of my colleagues, classical musicians here,” concluded Mr. Igudesman.
Reporting by Abraham Thompson and Dean Tsaggaris.
For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
