BOSTON—"Ni Hao!" exclaimed Terry Martorana after watching the "Chinese New Year Spectacular" at the Opera House on Friday night. "It's good to learn a word at least, you know…" Ni Hao (pronounced "nee how") means hello in Chinese and was one of the words the show's bilingual hosts taught to the audience.
"And what did you call it… zehru? Erhu!—that was a really powerful piece," Terry continued. "The whole thrust of the performance was very powerful because it gave a whole new meaning to me for the Chinese new year. I guess I just associate dragons and the year of the whatever animal it is, and this was a whole different perspective. It was really quite powerful."
The erhu is an ancient, small bowed instrument with just two strings. But the sound that comes out of those two strings at the hands of erhu soloist Xiaochun Qi never fails to amaze audiences.
"Music cannot be expressed in terms of words," said Ms. Qi in an interview with The Epoch Times after arriving in Boston on Wednesday, Jan. 9. "The purity of the heart and tranquility of the mind allows the musician to be immersed in the performance and resonant with the audience, who desire to hear it a hundred times."
Alice Damper from Revere, Massachusetts, is blind and attended the Friday show with her Golden Retriever at her side. "No, I do not see anything on the stage," she said, "but I have imagination."
When asked what she liked the most, she replied: "I liked all the stories about different things where good triumphs over evil. I like the music and the drumming," she continued. "I liked the two-string instrument, the erhu. I liked that very much."
The erhu is just one of the many Chinese instruments that are part of the Divine Performing Arts Orchestra, which incorporates both Eastern and Western instruments to produce a unique and captivating sound.
In addition to the classical Western foundational instruments, one can find such traditional instruments as the lute-like pipa, xiao (vertical flute), guzheng (Chinese zither), dizi (transverse flute), gongs and various other percussive instruments.
Ben Blanchard, from Cambridge, Mass., remarked, "I'm a musician, and I've never heard some of those instruments before. It's catching a range that I don't usually hear in a regular orchestra. It's real exciting."
The drumming especially delighted the audience. Dave Chan, an Information Technology specialist who attended the afternoon show with his son Darren, commented that he thought the drums "definitely give a nice acoustic."
T.R. Raghunath, attending with his wife, family members, and friends—all from the Boston area—said, "It was a really nice show…really nice, spectacular. That Mongolian dance was very nice. All of them were good…extremely nice, very smooth and easy flowing. Very nice, very engaging."
Mrs. Raghunath particularly enjoyed the drums. "A lot of drums like that together—very nice," she said in reference to the last act which combined dance and drums, and T.R. added: "They resonate with everyone, all cultures."
Blending East and West in its performances enables Divine Performing Arts (DPA) to achieve its mission of rediscovering and recreating the essence of humanity's true cultural heritage and conveying it to audiences.
As the orchestra's first violinist Chia-Chi Lin explained to The Epoch Times on Wednesday, the challenge is twofold: "Not only is a western instrument used to play traditional Chinese music with exceptional skills and proficiency and smoothness, one also needs to be able to express the inner meanings of the piece as well as the feelings of the performers."
Peri Jacoubs came with her son who attends Gilmore Academy in Brockton, Mass., and is learning Chinese. Commenting on the "Spectacular," Peri said: "It's fantastic in terms of the culture of the Chinese. Colors are fantastic…smooth and elegant dancers. I loved the Tibetan dance and the drums." She said that "learning Chinese is the wave of the future."
Matthew Peace is an engineer, but also owns his own business called The Tree of Good and Delicious. He attended the Friday matinee and thought the show was "a gateway to Chinese culture."
Alex (12 years old) and 5-year-old twins Sadie and Rachael Goldman from Boston came with their dad. Mr. Goldman said it was nice for the "kids to learn about the traditional history and culture of China."
Marsha Ward from Exeter, New Hampshire, attended with her 10-year-old granddaughter Creighton, who was adopted when she was 14 months old, and 7-year-old Reilly. They have been to China three times.
Mrs. Ward said she loved the show. "I think the Chinese people are very artistic. Everything they do is marvelous. According to Mrs. Ward, this show is more artistic than the shows in China."
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Divine Performing Arts shows that will perform in over 60 cities worldwide in 2008. To find a show near you, please visit www.bestchineseshows.com.
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