CALGARY, Canada—Most of all, it was the beautiful colours that delighted Iryna Zayarny at the opening show of world-renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts at Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on Tuesday evening.

Ms. Zayarny is a pianist who teaches at the Conservatory at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, a leading institution of arts education in Canada established in 1910. She is also a painter, and her work will be shown in an exhibit in three weeks.

She noted that she especially admired the costumes with their bright colours that contrast with and complement each other. They included reds and greens, yellows and violets, blues and oranges.

“They are called complementary colours. They, on the colour wheel, are against each other,  but when you put them together, they look even brighter with each other,” she said.

“Someone is doing a good job of putting colours together on the costumes. They are really done professionally. Every colour matches the other colours,” said Ms. Zayarny. “They draw people’s eyes  . . .  As an artist, I’m telling you, it’s very beautiful.”

Ms. Zayarny was accompanied by her son at the premier classical Chinese dance and music production.

It was the theme of strength that impressed both mother and son.

“Softer mood, brighter mood, sometimes there are different moods,” she said, adding that the music played by the live 40-plus-member orchestra was “too good to be true” and greatly complemented the other elements of the show.

A trademark of Shen Yun is its orchestra that bring to the audience a masterful fusion of classical Chinese and Western instruments in their performances of original compositions.

“ Very nice  . . .  very clean, perfectly together as a group, as an orchestra,” she said.

Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will be performing two more shows in Calgary on March 31 and April 1.