HOUSTON—The original compositions performed by Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra Sunday night at the Jones Hall for Performing Arts in Houston proved rich and exciting for business owner Mr. Konstantin Kozh and Ms. Evgenia Gachimova, a leukemia research nurse.

“They should come back every other month,” Mr. Kozh said.

Mr. Kozh said he remembered how when conductor Keng-Wei Kuo, from Taiwan, came on stage and the orchestra performed “Creation” by Jing Xian, he was blown away.

“That was a thrilling one,” Mr. Kozh said, adding that he enjoyed the oriental sounds he heard from the original compositions.

Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra is unlike any other orchestra. In Shen Yun, traditional Chinese instruments, like the pipa and erhu, play side-by-side with the cellos and violins in a full symphony orchestra. Pieces like “Creation” composed by Jing Xian and “Divine Compassion,” composed by Junyi Tan and Yu Deng, are part of the program along with well-known classical pieces by Tchaikovsky and Beethoven.

“It’s beautiful, breathtaking, very rich. It was just very uplifting and spiritual,” Ms. Gachimova said. “The composition and all the richness of all the notes and the melodies, it just takes your breath away.”

Ms. Gachimova said she couldn’t quite find place the words she wanted to describe her experience seeing the orchestra, but the feeling she came away with was as if the pieces all formed “a really great picture.”

Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra is on a seven-city tour with performances in Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, from Sept. 27–Oct. 22. For more information, visit Symphony.Shenyun.com