WASHINGTON—Ms. Meredith Meersman, a church musician, and her husband, Mr. Mark Meersman, a health care administrator in the U.S. Air Force, attended the Jan. 24 Shen Yun performance, hosted by Washington’s Kennedy Center Opera House.
“I’m a church musician, and I play percussion in an orchestra and keyboard instruments, said Ms. Meersman.
“I love Shen Yun,” Ms. Meersman said. “I was just saying to my husband that it was interesting to hear the different orchestrations and the repetitions in the music that is Eastern in flavor rather than Western.”
Being a musician, she heard in Shen Yun’s music: “gentleness with a nice underlying energy to it.”
According to Shen ‘s website, the New York-based company has a “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. The result—two great classical music traditions producing one fresh, unexpected sound.”
Ms. Meersman said, “I love the mix of the modern and traditional, and the sounds of the instruments. I love percussion, that’s one of the things I play, so I love that, but I also like to hear the different colors of the other instruments interspersed with the typical classical music, Western classical. It’s beautiful.”
“I’m not really a musician, but the music is very interesting,” Mr. Meersman said. “What I mean by this is that there is a rhythmic nature to the music. I guess I would call it light tempos.”
Besides, “The dances are good. Overall, the performance is really good, nice and beautiful. The colors are great, the costumes and the video mixture with the dance is very interesting.”
Mr. Meersman was referring to the backdrop that projects pictures so as to highlight what is performed on stage.
His wife said that she would tell her acquaintances and friends about Shen Yun.
“I remember Shen Yun’s performance had a very healthy mix of different qualities that would be very entertaining for anybody, especially anyone who has never seen anything of the Eastern flavor.”
“Also, the Shen is very professional and very exquisite. The colors are beautiful, I love the use of the technology, so I would say definitely go see it.”
Reporting Min Chang and Heide B. Malhotra
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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.
