The fourth annual 2007 Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular shows are the most impressive of all, in part due to this year's inclusion of the Divine Performing Arts Orchestra, conducted by Mr. Rutang Chen. Divine Performing Arts is a western-style orchestra complemented by a small number of Chinese instruments, including the pipa, erhu, Chinese flute and the zither. The orchestra is comprised mainly of Chinese Americans living in the metropolitan New York area. The Epoch Times interviewed Mr. Chen about the role of the orchestra in the Spectacular when the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular came to Calgary, Canada.
The following interview has been translated from Chinese.
ET: When was the Divine Performing Arts Orchestra formed?
Chen: Last year. It played in New Tang Dynasty Television's Holiday Wonders shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This is the first year for the Chinese New Year Spectacular to have an orchestra. This year, Divine Performing Arts Orchestra performed in Toronto, New York, Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Chicago. Next year it will perform in every city.
ET: How did you get interested in music?
Chen: When I was young I was only in contact with Chinese classical music. But when I went to a music conservatory I started to get in touch with Western classical music, and since then I have been performing classical music for 30 years. So I've had quite a bit of contact with both Chinese and Western styles of classical music.
I feel that music, especially classical music, can have a deep influence on people. For instance when I encountered certain types of music when I was younger it struck a deep chord in me and I deeply appreciated it. One time when I was in the Central Philharmonic Orchestra I received a letter from one of the members of the audience. She was a young female worker. Her letter said, "I wanted to commit suicide because of the emotional pain I was feeling, and I managed to come in a cloudy state of mind to your performance and you were playing Beethoven's fifth. I felt like each performer's instrument was speaking to me, telling me to summon up my courage and keep on living. So after being encouraged by Beethoven's music, even the thought of dying is far from my heart." This is just one example.
Music has a strong influence on people. After beginning to practice cultivation of Falun Dafa, when I perform or conduct I find that many people are moved to tears. So with music written by Falun Dafa practitioners it can not only have a strong influence on people, it can also make clear the truth about Falun Dafa. Even though I've performed so much modern music I really don't like it, so now I feel very clearly that the music written by Dafa practitioners has a strong influence on people, so now I am putting my whole heart into working on that. Because I am entirely confident that we know what human life truly needs.
ET: I understand that all your family members are musicians?
Chen: My wife plays flute. My wife played in symphony in China for over 30 years. Both of us have been awarded the official designation "First Class Performers" in China. She always played first flute. We have played over 100 Western music pieces, over 1000 shows. My daughter also plays flute. My son plays bassoon. They all play in the orchestra.
ET: You said ancient China didn't have anything like an orchestra. How about modern China, does it have orchestras?
Chen: There have been some mixed orchestras in China, but they are comprised of a large portion of Chinese instruments, with just a few western instruments.
ET: The Spectacular presents traditional Chinese culture, so why does it include a modern and mostly western-style orchestra?
Chen: Why are we using this form? It is because we have discovered that western instruments are able to create some very glorious musical depictions, so what we have been able to do is combine both the traditional feeling of the traditional Chinese instruments and the glory of the western instruments.
Western instruments can produce abundant forms of inner meaning, from the most subtle, to the largest and most glorious. Also, the volume of Chinese instruments is very low. It takes only three violins to produce the sound of ten erhu (a two-stringed instrument similar to a violin). Trumpets, horns, and trombone all have a very loud sound, louder than anything from ancient China.
Western instruments offer abundant potentiality for composers to work with. All composers for the Spectacular know both Chinese and western music styles. From music, to drama, to glorious stories—they can create all themes. Sometimes we use just Chinese instruments for the solos.
In using this form, not only Chinese, but also westerners can enjoy it. What people hear is Chinese music, but at the same time it has the depth of the western music.
The Spectacular has played over 80 shows. No matter what ethnicity or background, everyone liked it, so it is very good. Chinese also accept that it is traditional Chinese music. Actually, this form makes the traditional Chinese music even better. It can better manifest traditional Chinese culture. If you just use traditional Chinese music it cannot really manifest such big sounds and inner meaning. The reality of so many shows in 34 cities demonstrates that this is really good.
ET: What do you think human life needs?
Chen: As you know, people receive good returns for doing good deeds and receive retribution for doing bad deeds, so what we have here is good deeds—compassion and purity in our performances, and that's what people need. Precisely the traditional Chinese culture and music can inspire human beings' compassionate sides. So since cultivators of Falun Dafa (a traditional Chinese meditation practice teaching Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) are very familiar with the meanings of Dafa (Great Law), the music they produce is also very upright.
ET: Why do you say that Divine Performing Arts Orchestra performances are pure, compassionate and beautiful? What does this mean?
Chen: This music is written precisely to accompany the dancers. It is written with them in mind and according to the choreography, and all of it is original. So since all of the members of Tian Ying are cultivators all of them work to cultivate their behavior and their conduct, and as you cultivate further, your conduct and your being become very pure.
It's just like a true qigong master. If you do one brush stroke he can tell what your state of mind is, what your thought processes are, and how healthy or unhealthy your body is. Just the same, the music sent out by a musician reflects his moral character. Since these are cultivators who have cultivated their conduct for many years, they are producing pure music reflecting their own beings and using their pure hearts to play this pure music, and I feel that this is the most ideal situation.
There are many orchestras out there with extremely high professional and technical skills, but are they able to achieve the effect of this purity that we are able to achieve? I think it's quite difficult for them. So this is one of the reasons that we are able to achieve such a powerful overall effect.
ET: Why do you think that Divine Performing Arts Orchestra has received such wide acclaim around the world?
Chen: Why has this Gala been so successful? Why is it one of a kind? Because there really is nothing else out there like it. This is because of its inner meanings. You can go a number of places to see a nice and beautiful performance, but Divine Performing Arts is going above and beyond what other troupes do. I think what the clearest thing and the most direct effect it has, and what people might not be aware of, is how the inner meanings touch upon peoples' innermost beings.
ET: Why do the inner meanings have such an effect?
Chen: Because every human being has a compassionate side, and it touches directly upon that. But over the course of living in society, humans' compassionate sides may be diluted or forgotten. But as soon as they see some of our performances, even though it is very joyous and beautiful they will understand some very deep principles and something that is beyond the realm of imagination.
For example, if you ask someone to dance for 6 hours straight and then ask him to sit down, when he sits down he feels like it's so comfortable. In this situation he had no idea what sitting down was going to feel like. So coming back to my earlier point, cultivators, from their hearts they have truly come to understand the principles governing the universe, and they have gone through a very complicated and difficult process of self-cultivation. So in terms of what is beauty, what is purity, what is freedom, these are things that they deeply understand. So this is the idea.
ET: What are your future artistic plans?
Chen: I feel optimistic. For the Spectacular is really beneficial to people's lives and bodies. This is becoming more and more apparent. As the Spectacular gets more famous, I believe that for a city like Calgary ten shows will be needed to satisfy the demand. So we will probably have two to three orchestras, not just one.
The Spectacular, so many audience members shed tears. I've never seen these things before in my 30-year music career. The reason is that all people have compassion in their hearts. The inner meaning of this spectacular is really shocking to people, it awakens their compassion, awakens their thinking of the meaning of life. This is the most important thing for all people. When they sense it, they feel happiness. Immediately, people will feel great compassion from the Spectacular itself, because the Buddha light illuminates everywhere. They feel really comfortable.
Mr. Chen was a cellist for China's Central Philharmonic Society Orchestra, the predecessor of the China National Symphony Orchestra. In the orchestra, Mr. Chen developed into a sensitive artist, conductor, and capable music administrator, and was awarded the official designation "National First-Class Performer" for his mastery of the cello.
As the orchestra's manager from 1983 to 1990, Mr. Chen organized hundreds of educational concerts to promote public interest in symphonic music. He was the key figure in bringing about the momentous "Spring of Orchestral Music in Beijing" in 1986; these concerts saw the participation of over 800 musicians, including 11 top Chinese conductors. Broadcast throughout China, the event was a grand success and has become a landmark in the musical history of Beijing.
In 1987, as a result of Mr. Chen's efforts, the Central Philharmonic Society Orchestra was able to tour the United States and debut at notable venues in 4 cities, including Lincoln Center in New York and the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
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