An erhu is a traditional Chinese instrument. Click photo for larger image.

East often meets West nowadays in the Internet era, where time is reduced to nanoseconds and distance is measured from our face to the computer screen. But Saturday's night's blend of cultures at Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts still had its own distinctive glow, due to the efforts of the burgeoning HarmoniZing!, which produced a concert centered around Chinese erhu virtuoso Karen Han.

The erhu is a traditional Chinese instrument, played like an upright two-stringed violin on the left knee, and with more than 1,000 years of history in its tiny drum-like body. But Han brought it up to date, with electronic enhancement and a flash of modern-day pizzazz, from her vibrant, charismatic presence to no less than three costume changes.

This was by no means the sedate interpretation that one sees in the movies. Han lashed out with brilliant technical passages, managing a precarious balance between the delicacy and precision of the left hand (which looked as if it were floating on air from the audience), and a remarkable bow technique that often swelled and receded at will, only to explode suddenly like an exclamation point.

Tradition was Han's starting point in Hua Yan Jun's "Candle Flame Flickering over Red Shadow," explained as a man's growing rage at his blindness, and translated as Han gradually worked her way into the upper reaches of the strings. It was followed by Wa Hao Yuen's "Red Plum Blossom Capriccio," which showcased her extraordinary facility in performing difficult octave leaps.

It was hard to equal those standards, but Han sought to extend the range of her instrument. Although the 12-piece CAPA orchestra was timid, she still played the fourth movement of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Concerto for Erhu and Orchestra" with great panache, from the emotional melody to a series of arpeggiated string crossings.

Less satisfying were two familiar classical favorites, Schubert's "Serenade" and Saint-Saens' "The Swan," with pianist Yeeha Chiu and flutist Barbara O'Brien. Thinly arranged, Han and O'Brien mostly traded phrases (albeit luxuriantly rendered) and occasionally meandered into harmony.

"The Swan" also featured Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre principal dancer Jiabin Pan in what appeared to be not only a piece d'occasion, but a homage to legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova. Choreographed for Pavlova by Michel Fokine in 1905, it became her signature solo and a metaphor for not only the fluidity of ballet, but the fragility of life and the passion that we bring to it. Dressed in contemporary garb and using a white tutu as his starting point, Pan incorporated motifs from the original solo -- a brief example of a rippling arm and the fall and rise of the choreography -- but translated into the more muscular male perspective much like Matthew Bourne's full-length "Swan Lake."

Pan also joined with PBT principal and wife Ying Li in a piece that they choreographed, "Clear Strings," to pulsating music by Phillip Glass. With enormous musicality and partnering skills, the pair undulated in concert with the minimalist accompaniment, coupling a traditional classical ballet vocabulary with the seamless floor work of modern dance, and reflected the give and take between two people.

It wasn't a question of culture in the end, but the performers' unwavering focus on their innate musicality that provided the connecting link. From the lovely, fluttering touch of Chinese traditional dancer Yanlai Wu in "Flying Fairy" to Chiu's surprisingly dainty portrayal of a Chopin polonaise and O'Brien's three silvery French-Chinese pieces by Pierre Octave Ferroud, they proved that simple elegance will never go out of style.