Shanghai International Arts Festival

China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF)is the only state-level International Arts Festival hosted by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China and organized by Shanghai Municipal People's Government. Since 1999, CSIAF, observing the commitment to both innovation 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 superstars have presented their excellent programs on the stage including the great conductors Zubin Mehta, Christopher Eschenbach and Simon Rattle, the tenors Placido Domingo and Andrea Bocelli, the singers Mariah Carey and Beyonce Knowles, 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 including Berliner Philharmoniker, The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, The Czech Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Takarazuka Revue Company of Japan, Mariinsky Bellets, Bejart Ballet Lausanne and les Ballet de Monte Carlo have left their classical charms on the festival stage. Some spectacular Chinese dance drama, such as Dance and Decoration, Aida, Chinese Imperial Concubine,Farewell, My Concubine, Wild Zebra, Peony Pavilion and Marco Polo, bring higher passion for artistic creation to the festival.

It’s also a festival for ordinary people. In the past 13 years, over thousands of 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 and abroad to the festival "Daily Performance" stages co-presented bystars, professionals and ordinary people, or from "Citizen Arts Competition" 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 and artists and have attracted over 18 million audiences by far, thus becoming a bright and unique highlight of the festival.