NEW YORK—Growing up in Germany surrounded by music, Dr. Torsten Trey started music lessons when he was six years old. Both his parents are opera singers and they took him to operas at a young age. "When I was eight, I listened to Dvorak and Bruckner symphonies," Dr. Trey explained.
Dr. Trey said, "My father was surprised that I listened to these composers. If he had known the concept of predestined relationships, he probably would have realized that this was the case with me and music."
Even though he played piano and oboe for six hours a day during high school, he was still the best in his class academically. Dr. Trey's first professional choice would have been to become a conductor, but he later decided to go into medicine.
When he joined the Divine Performing Arts Orchestra, he "recognized this is a very unique combination of Chinese and Western music."
Since his youth, Dr. Trey has had a deep interest in the history and development of music believing that "music is a major contributor in building societies. It creates a direction in societies."
Dr. Trey notes that music has lost its way since the nineteenth century. It has changed from earlier eras—the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic epochs (1600-1900)—to trends starting in early 1900's. These earlier eras spanning 300 years represent the pinnacle of classical music in the West and are based on higher principles and values. Composers such as Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Stockhausen composed music from a listener's perspective as if experimenting with noise.
When this chaotic music appeared, atomic bombs, communism and cold war also surfaced. He believes this chaotic music in no small way contributes to the chaos in modern times. Destructive political movements, such as communism, thrived by killing people in its own society.
Europe boasted excellent philosophers and scholars when classical principles were followed. When music lost its classical values, chaos developed in societies and so for 100 years, music has been struggling to find direction.
Dr. Trey said that "Composers did not have the self-confidence to dedicate [themselves to] harmony, however, the Divine Performing Arts Orchestra and its composers has once more taken this direction. The orchestra incorporates classical styles of Eastern and Western hemispheres so that makes our music unique."
He also said that "You will not find similar music or orchestra anywhere else in the world."
For example, both Western and Chinese instruments have different characteristics. Western instruments have become more refined over the centuries so the sound is clearer. Chinese instruments are less polished but the sound and effect are full, vibrant, rich, and colorful and they can express more subtlety. "For example, the Western flute is more brilliant than the bamboo flute, whose sound is more touching, vibrant and expressive."
He compared the violin and erhu (a two-stringed Chinese instrument). "The sound of the violin is clear and refined whereas the erhu is more expressive. Chinese instruments have a wider spectrum of expression and we are lucky that we have these instruments in the orchestra."
Although Dr. Trey performs in the Divine Performing Arts Orchestra and is now touring with the company, he has not given up his medical practice.
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