China Shanghai International Arts Festival

China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF)is the only state-level International Arts Festival hosted by the Ministry ofCulture of the People's Republic of China and organized by Shanghai MunicipalPeople's Government. Since 1999, CSIAF, observing the commitment to bothinnovation and the classics, has successfully been held for 13 years in a row. The festival is a feast of all forms of domesticand foreign arts, such as music, dance, drama, etc. Many masters and superstarshave presented their excellent programs on the stage including the greatconductors Zubin Mehta, Christopher Eschenbach and Simon Rattle, the tenorsPlacido Domingo and Andrea Bocelli, the singers Mariah Carey and BeyonceKnowles, the flute soloist James Galway, the cellists Mischa Maisky and Yo-YoMa, violinist Itzak Perlman, as well as the dancers Aida Gomez and Sara Baras,etc. Plenty of world-renowned orchestras and ballet companies includingBerliner Philharmoniker, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, The CzechPhilharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Takarazuka Revue Company of Japan,Mariinsky Bellets, Bejart Ballet Lausanne and les Ballet de Monte Carlo haveleft their classical charms on the festival stage. Some spectacular Chinesedance drama, such as Dance and Decoration, Aida, Chinese Imperial Concubine,Farewell, My Concubine, Wild Zebra, Peony Pavilion and Marco Polo, bring higherpassion for artistic creation to the festival.

It’s also a festival for ordinary people. In thepast 13 years, over thousands public cultural activities have been successfullyorganized, which dramatically promotes the cultural development of the city.Whether from the performances presented in communities by artists at home andabroad to the festival "Daily Performance" stages co-presented bystars, professionals and ordinary people, or from "Citizen ArtsCompetition" to "The Yangtze River Delta Region Folk SongCompetition", CSIAF brings colorful performances outside of theaters tostreets, neighborhoods and towns. They enjoy high popularity among citizens andartists and have attracted over 18 million audiences by far, thus becoming abright and unique highlight of the festival.
The festival boasts open-minded vision and enjoysgood reputation. Since the establishment of The Culture Weeks of guest nationsand domestic provinces, it has successfully presented a series of activitiesfor foreign cultures about Australia, Russia, France, Egypt, Mexico, Singapore,Japan, Germany and Korea as well as domestic cultures about Yunnan, InnerMongolia, Qinghai, Hubei, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Gansu etc, all with distinctivefeatures.
With a galaxy of experts in various fields andmasters of great wisdom, Arts Festival Conference is another highlight of thefestival. The past 13 years has witnessed over 100 forums and conferencesincluding 2011 festival forum “Future trends in the development of festivals”, the2010 International Festivals Conference Shanghai, Shanghai Conference ofAsia-Pacific Arts Festival Association Organizing Committee, the 7thInternational Network on Cultural Policy Annual Ministerial Meeting, etc.
China Shanghai International Performing Arts Fair(SPAF) serves as an important platform to recommend national culture to theoutside world and bring in excellent foreign cultures to the domestic market.Up to now, delegates of about 1000 domestic and foreign arts festivals,agencies, performing groups, companies and institutions from over 60 countriesin total have come to attend SPAF. Every year, initial intent of cooperationhas been achieved for hundreds of outstanding programs on this platform, whichgreatly pushes forward the development of domestic performing markets.
As indispensable components of CSIAF, variousexhibitions and colorful Festival in Festival series bring a big feast to theeyes of the audience. About 5 million people have been attracted to domesticand foreign exhibitions such as “Exhibition of Pablo Picasso ‘s works” ,"NationalTreasures from Egypt", "China in Impression-Chinese Freehand PaintingExhibition", etc, which creates a rather hot and animated scene.
The China Shanghai International Arts Festival isexerting increasingly greater influence on both domestic and overseas culturalstages, becoming a significant brand of China’s cultural exchange. In recentyears, it has won over ten prizes at home and abroad, including the "ChinaTop Ten Influential Festivals" by IFEA.
In the golden October and by theHuangpu River, the 14th China Shanghai International Arts Festival willconsistently present the most fabulous and splendid art feast for the audiencefrom home and abroad.