TORONTO—”Very beautiful and visually stunning” was how professional trumpet player Norman Engel described the classical Chinese dance in the Shen Yun Performing Arts production he attended on Friday night in Toronto.
Mr. Engel, who teaches trumpet at the Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts in Toronto, performs extensively as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player.
He has worked with the Toronto Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, Santa Fe Opera, National Ballet of Canada, and the Stratford Festival, among others.
He is also active in Toronto’s thriving theatre community, having performed in the orchestras of several operas, including “Miss Saigon,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” and was the first trumpeter to play the world premier production of “Lord of the Rings” in Toronto.
Mr. Engel’s career has taken him across Europe, to Asia, New Zealand, and throughout most of Canada and the United States. On Broadway, he has performed as lead trumpeter for “Mary Poppins” and “Lord of the Rings.”
Mr. Engel was impressed by the Shen Yun Orchestra, with its unique blend of classical Western and Chinese instruments.
“I’m a musician myself and I can relate to the sound of the orchestra from a Western perspective, and it’s even more interesting when you combine the Chinese instruments with the Western instruments.” he said.
“I thought the combination of the Chinese elements with the strings and the brass was a fantastic idea. I love to hear the traditional instruments mixed in with the standard Western instruments.”
“Whoever played the trumpet did a very good job,” he added.
New York-based Shen Yun, the world’s premier classical Chinese music and dance company, is bringing about a revival of China’s authentic traditional culture that has been all but destroyed as a result of the communist regime’s campaigns such as the Cultural Revolution.
“I thought it was wonderful, with the colours and the dancing and the drumming and all of that—it’s fantastic, and I loved that aspect of the show,” said Mr. Engel.
“It’s wonderful to see this part of Chinese culture,” he noted. “[Shen Yun goes] back in China’s 5,000-year history and presents that as visually beautiful.”
The New York-based performing arts company is known for its colourful costumes, intricately choreographed dances, and vivid animated backgrounds digitally projected behind the dancers on stage.
“I thought the backdrop was very interesting the way they used the live dancers coming out of the screen. I thought it was actually a very good idea,” Mr. Engel said.
Chinese traditional culture, as explained on the Shen Yun website, has a deep spirituality that embraces values such as compassion, honour, propriety, and reverence for the divine.
The songs by the bel canto soloists, whose lyrics were displayed on the backdrop in English, brought out this spiritual essence, said Mr. Engel.
“It’s the same message that most people I think would want, to lead a life that’s full and complete … just being a decent human being and not inflicting any kind of negativity into the way you deal with your life,” he said.
Reporting by Sound of Hope and Joan Delaney
Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company is in Toronto for two more performances Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
