SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun ‘Really Top of the Line,’ Says Conductor

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Shen Yun ‘Really Top of the Line,’ Says Conductor
Conductor Harold Worman attended the Shen Yun performance at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on March 5, 2023. NTD

COSTA MESA, Calif.— “Fantastic, creative, beautifully timed, beautifully set,” said conductor Harold Worman about Shen Yun Performing Arts. “It’s really impressive … the whole thing was just super, loved it!”

Mr. Worman attended the matinee performance of Shen Yun at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts on March 5.

Mr. Worman has conducted ensembles at San Diego State University for 32 years, including the Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra, and marching band.

“I’ve conducted here and I’ve conducted on stage and in the pit and I’m telling you … it was really, really well done,” he said.

“The stories told through art and music … wonderful,” he said. “They’re professionals, really top of the line.”
Presenting story-based pieces that tell tales from ancient times to the modern day, New York based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company.
Besides talented dancers, Shen Yun features a one-of-a-kind orchestra that blends traditional Chinese instruments into a classical Western orchestra. Ancient Chinese instruments such as the two-stringed erhu and the pipa lead the melody amidst the traditional instruments found in a Western orchestra.

“The coordination between the music and the dance was “really tight,” said Mr. Worman, “[the orchestra] traveled with [the dancers] all the time … it seemed like they were that tight.”

Mr. Worman said he was very excited to see the trumpets in the orchestra.

“I always play trumpet … and I didn’t even think there was going to be any, so it was really exciting when I got to hear them,” he said. “It was really good.”

Shen Yun aims to revive China’s 5,000-year-old traditional culture. The company’s story-based dances depict cherished tales from the past, conveying principles still relevant in the modern day.

The company’s website says its performance this year demonstrates “China before communism.”

Reflecting on the dance stories that depict modern day China and the communist regime’s persecution of the spiritual discipline Falun Dafa, Mr. Worman found them very moving.

“They were really very poignant, right to the point, and very moving,” he said.

“The way the Communist Party treats the people [in comparison to] the spirit, the positiveness, [and] the beauty of the human spirit … all came through,” he said. “It was wonderful.”

Mr. Worman said the message and value of Shen Yun is “more important now than ever.”

“It’s very prophetic,” he said. “We have certain elements in this country that are going that direction, and we certainly hope that the spirit wins before [evil] get[s] there.”

Reporting by NTD and Jennifer Schneider.

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