(Clearwisdom.net) Portland, Oregon -- the "City of Roses" -- welcomed back the Shen Yun Performing Arts for its Spring Tour 2009, at the Keller Auditorium on May 19.

Distinguished opera singer, Anna Kazakova, who has performed leading soprano roles in many of Europe's prestigious National Operas, including in France and Budapest, and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, was deeply moved by the show. She said, "I enjoyed this wonderful performance very much. It opened an unknown page in art and history for me. I am very impressed by the beautiful settings, colorful costumes, dresses and singers."

Distinguished opera singer, Anna Kazakova

As a classical opera soloist herself, she was very impressed by "the inspirational songs performed by highly accomplished opera singers, their strong voices and excellent technique."

Ms. Kazakova additionally praised, "...the wonderful pianist who was accompanying the singers and the unique violin (erhu)." She continued, "The artist who played the unique violin (erhu) really touched my heart with its incomparable sound and melodies."

Ms. Kazakova enjoyed the way Shen Yun captured the essence of traditional, "Chinese spirit and joy of fairy tales." The soprano said she, "saw the message in these performances plus lessons from history and legends."

Ms. Kazakova appreciated Shen Yun's performances. "All the dances were beautiful and in perfect accordance with those true stories about communists repressing [religious believers]. I was born in communist Russia and this makes perfect sense to me," she said, referring to the dance, "Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution."

Born in Russia, Mr. Andrei Kitaev is an internationally recognized classical jazz pianist. Before seeing Shen Yun, Mr. Kitaev did not know what to expect, but he was very impressed. He said that Shen Yun's "instrumental and vocal pieces were very impressive and highly professional."

Mr. Andrei Kitaev, an internationally recognized classical jazz pianist

Mr. Kitaev expressed his "sincere gratitude to the Shen Yun Company for sharing their art with us today. Chinese cultural heritage was presented in an extremely bright, dynamic and enthralling form that could be perceived not only by worldly, wise professors of arts, but also by everyday people."

Mr. Kitaev added that, in his opinion, "Asian cultures still remain an enigma to many people in the West. They feel it difficult to comprehend the depths of spirit of these strong, wise, ancient, and mysterious nations."

Mr. Kitaev was pleased to have seen the Shen Yun performance and concluded that he was "happy to get to know this amazing ensemble" and hoped that it would "honor Portland with more performances in the future."

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/17126/

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