BOSTON—“It is unbelievable really. It is very moving,” said Liz Fusco after attending Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra’s performance at Boston Symphony Hall on Oct. 9.
Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra typically accompanies Shen Yun Performing Arts, known for its classical Chinese dance. But the orchestra is now touring on its own before the official Shen Yun Performing Arts season gets underway.
“When it first started, I said to my dad [that] this is very Western,” Ms. Fusco said. She is visiting in Boston from Atlanta, where she previously owned a marketing firm.
“Then it moved into the Eastern, and you could feel it move into this very Eastern music, and it was really beautiful. It was amazing.”
The orchestra performed four 19th and 20th century pieces from the West, among them Tchaikovsky’s “Polonaise,” Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture,” two trumpet pieces by the American composer Leroy Anderson, and a duet for flute by Anton Bernhard Fürstenau.
The orchestra played more than 10 original compositions as well. These pieces incorporate Chinese instruments into the full Western orchestra. Traditionally, China had no large symphonies, nor the rich heritage of complex arrangements.
“It was interesting that they had so many different conductors. The soloists and the flutists, and the soprano opera singer—she was beautiful, and her voice was incredibly moving,” Ms. Fusco said.
The orchestra is unusual in that it is touring with four conductors along with 100 or so musicians. In addition, classical singers augment the program. They blend bel canto vocal technique with the Chinese language, an unprecedented and difficult feat.
“It was really just beautiful music, and I guess anybody can appreciate beautiful music, and it was definitely amazing,” Ms. Fusco said.
Reporting by NTD Television and Sharon Kilarski
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