COSTA MESA, Calif.—Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company opened on the evening of March 11 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and Mr. DiMascio and his friend Barbara were delighted to be in the audience.
Mr. DiMascio is the president of DiMascio Venture Management, Inc., a private management and investment company.
His executive profile is quite extensive. Some of the highlights include serving as executive vice president and CFO of Anchor Gaming, a publicly held diversified gaming company. He was also a senior vice president and CFO of Conair Corporation, a manufacturer and marketer of personal and health care products. Among many other positions and accomplishments, Mr. DiMascio has been profiled by Bloomberg Business Week.
“It’s unique,” said Mr. DiMascio, “It’s the kind of thing when you leave you won’t forget it, and when you see people and they say ‘what did you do,’ you tell them—you want to tell people about this.”
Mr. DiMascio was very impressed with the evening’s performance, “Tonight’s show, superb. First of all the costumes are magnificent, the music combination of Chinese and Western symphony music is terrific, the dancing is excellent.”
Shen Yun’s website describes a typical performance: “An extraordinary journey across 5,000 years of Chinese civilization! With classical Chinese dance, live orchestra, dazzling costumes and animated backdrops, Shen Yun will transport you to another world.”
Barbara was fascinated by the Shen Yun Orchestra. “It’s very interesting to find them all together in harmony. I mean the Chinese music is a little different,” she said, “it’s amazing that they get it together. I really enjoy it!”
The Shen Yun Orchestra is described on the website: “The Shen Yun Orchestra masterfully blends two of the world’s greatest classical music traditions. Ancient Chinese instruments such as the soul-stirring erhu and the delicate pipa lead the melody on top of a full orchestra of Western strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass. The Western orchestra with its energy and grandeur, and the Chinese instruments with their distinct tones and styles, create a dramatic new sound.”
Each dance piece tells a story from China’s history and traditions, in vignettes lasting no longer than 10 minutes each. The website explains: “Whether set in the past or in contemporary China, every dance embodies traditional Chinese values. Ideals of loyalty, filial piety, and veneration for the divine are cherished and celebrated. Heroes are extolled for their compassion and tolerance as much as their courage or determination when facing adversity.”
Barbara also enjoyed the stories, saying “Absolutely magnificent. It’s a mixture between the very serious and the funny things—oh you come through all emotions!”
“It’s very soft and you feel the love,” she said.
The performance as a whole had quite an impact on the theatergoers.
“We are so glad that we came here,” said Barbara. “Really it’s a magnificent add-on to our life.”
After finding that Shen Yun Performing Arts performances will run through the week, they were excited.
This gave them time to “tell our friends to come,” said Mr. DiMascio.
Reporting by Michael Ye and Cheryl Casati
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006
