NEW YORK—Mrs. Jackie Messinger hardly concealed her enthusiasm after taking in the Saturday matinee of Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
“I loved it,” she said. “I was so delighted - I screamed.”
“I think it’s a great fusion,” Mrs. Messinger said.
The orchestra mainly performs its own compositions that “draw upon five millennia of culture and legends,” the Shen Yun website states. “Western strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass accentuate the sound of ancient Chinese instruments.”
Among original Chinese-themed pieces, the performance included a selection of Western classics such as Dvořák’s “Slavonic Dance,” Op. 46 No. 8 and Saint-Saëns’s “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso.”
She took multiple program books—to hand out to her friends, she said—from the venue and plans to expand her experience in January, when Shen Yun Performing Arts brings its famous classical Chinese dance performance to Manhattan’s Lincoln Center.
