NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 29, 2022 / The pageantry of Shen Yun Performing Arts features not only dancers, but a full live orchestra led by distinguished classical music maestros from all over the world, including China, Taiwan, Bulgaria, and even Moldova. These conductors use their talents to set the Shen Yun orchestra apart from other mainstream orchestras by going beyond the emotional layer to channel the deep inner meaning of the music - a key feature in the Eastern musical tradition.
Maestro, Milen Nachev, leading the Shen Yun Orchestra (Photo Credit: Shen Yun Performing Arts)
They each have a distinct approach to conducting Shen Yun's famously unique orchestra so that it not only supports the performers onstage but tells stories beautifully on its own. Each had to overcome the challenges of harmonizing Eastern instruments and melodies with Western classical arrangements.
The results leave audiences absolutely stunned.
"I thought that somebody put a record or a CD and played it," says Samuel Gonzalez, Suffolk County Legislator (NY). "I knew it was a live orchestra. They were perfect. I've been dealing with music for a very, very long time, a little over 40 years. And what I heard today was exceptional. So my hat's off to the maestro and the orchestra."
Here is how they have led the Shen Yun orchestra to success.
Chia-Chi Lin
Chia-Chi Lin is a former principal second violinist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and former first violinist in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, she joined Shen Yun Performing Arts, first as concertmaster, then as maestro.
For Lin, her conducting style focuses on playing with an incredible focus and serenity-what she would describe as being "in the moment"-to improve her team's musical craft. She is also a proponent of building off of others to achieve the best effect. This includes not just the orchestra members, but choreographers and other conductors.
"We are all trying to improve ourselves all the time. What can we do to achieve this together on stage? And the next day it can be something else on top of that," Lin said in an interview with The Epoch Times. "There's always room to improve, and it's never the end of it. Art has always been like that, an endless pursuit of perfection."
Lin also says that to enhance her team's performance, she and the composers work closely with the choreographers so that every note and phrase corresponds to a gesture or movement on stage.
"I try to look at [the performance] on stage, to see how the dancers move their bodies and what the piece is about, and what the meaning they're trying to express is," Lin said in an interview with The Epoch Times. "When I play the line or the melody, I use my instrument to try to express the character of the piece, to express what they're trying to convey on stage."
Milen Nachev
Starting as a pianist and moving up to a conductor who has worked with orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas and even in Shanghai, the Bulgarian maestro, Milen Nachev, is one who truly believes that to make an excellent conductor, you must be able to inspire and communicate with your orchestra.
According to Nachev, besides having a deep knowledge of theory, history, and the capacity of each instrument, a conductor must be a psychologist of sorts. After all, they are working not with instruments, but with people. His biggest satisfaction is when he can inspire his team to give their very, very best on stage.
"Working with the Shen Yun orchestra, I have incredible moments of that. I can see the inspiration. I can feel it exists in the air around us," Nachev says.
Leading a team of multinational musicians, while working with other maestros from all over the world, can often be a challenge. But Nachev feels most accomplished when he's done a good job communicating with his orchestra, even without words. He recalls one moment in particular when rehearsing with erhu soloists, who are artists that play a two-stringed Chinese violin.
Erhu Soloists in the Shen Yun Orchestra (Photo Credit: Shen Yun Performing Arts)
"During the process, without words, just watching the eyes of the three soloists, I already knew what they needed-what kind of tempo they needed, what kind of support they needed, how we could together develop the phrase-and my feeling was that they also implicitly understood," says Nachev. "When I desired to start the phrase from one point and bring the phrase to the arrival point, they were complete with me - without one word between us."
Grand Finale
Leading an orchestra is challenging for any maestro, but the maestros of Shen Yun do it with patience and passion, inspiring their orchestra ensembles and delivering an unforgettable performance for the audience.
To learn more about Shen Yun, and to purchase tickets for an upcoming show, click here.
CONTACT:
Denise C. Riley
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SOURCE: Shen Yun
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