TORINO, Italy—Teatro Regio became part of history as it hosted Shen Yun Performing Arts premier show in Turin on Tuesday evening, June 8. Met with heartwarming applause, especially for the first operatic piece known as The Emperor Ushers in a Glorious Age, the New York-based artists enlightened audiences around the world with a revival of China's ancient culture through classical Chinese dance and music.

This year, they are accompanied by the Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company Orchestra, combining Chinese and Western traditions in a magical blend of modern Western and ancient Chinese instruments that include the ancient four-stringed pipa, and the lively suona, a wind instrument with a penetrating tone.

Antonio Giulio Priolo is a composer and flew 700 kilometres from Rome especially to see Shen Yun. Originally he was a guitarist and played jazz music but has since studied classical composition and is composing soundtracks for Italian films.

The composer was struck by the diverse sounds of the orchestra, commenting, "I really appreciate the idea of mixing western instruments with eastern instruments. Your show is fantastic from any point of view. And I also appreciate the idea of combining two kinds of sounds.”

He was impressed by the erhu, enthusing, "It is very nice. Maybe it is connected in some ways to the sound of a violin. It is amazing that just two strings can be so loud and full of emotional different kind of dynamics and musical phrases. Very nice. The first time I heard it on stage. I was very impressed by the player."

The erhu, played by virtuoso Xiaochun Qi is an ancient two-stringed instrument played with a double bow to produce a firm yet gentle tone. Without a fret, the musician creates diverse tones using only the fingers to create touching otherworldly sounds often compared to the human voice.

With his professional understanding of creating music to accompany visual images, Mr. Priolo also appreciated the state-of-the-art backdrops. "They are very evocative. It is a good idea instead of using still pictures. It is kind of like cinema on stage. That is nice. It is also good to see how well organised the technical part is and how it matches with what is happening on stage. It is very well organised."

Mr. Priolo will "of course" be recommending the show to his friends. "It is something very original you don´t get to see anywhere else,” he elaborated. “Apart from the beauty of the technical things, you can see this show from different points of view. Not only the dancing and the music, but also what is behind the show."

For Mr. Priolo, the performance delivered a clear message. "Behind the show there are the traditional Chinese people … and the story of these traditional people—you can see all of this on the stage,." He said “it was good” that the inclusion of the human rights abuse in China was highlighted on stage in two sketches, Nothing Can Block the Divine Path and Astounding Conviction.

With reporting by Wen Jing

Shen Yun Performing Arts will perform one more show at the Teatro Regio Torino on Wednesday, June 9, at 8.00pm. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Original article: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/37056/