|
Shanghai an art lover's paradise
By Wang Shanshan and Zou Huilin (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-10-19 06:04
SHANGHAI: "Big" is the buzzword best describing the annual Shanghai
International Arts Festival, which opened yesterday.
Hosted by the Ministry of Culture and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the
one-month carnival of arts is expected to keep the city in buoyant mood, despite
the ending of the weekend's Formula 1 festivities.
"Our carnival is without doubt one of the biggest arts festivals in the
world," said Yang Xiaodu, vice-major of Shanghai.
More than 1.2 million Shanghai residents and visitors from 65 countries and
regions are expected to have fun at the performances, museums and galleries
during the festival, which has run into its 7th year, according to Chen
Shenglai, president of the festival's organizing committee. Last year the
festival attracted 1 million visitors.
Adi Jetzr, a college student with an amateur Swiss band, said: "It was the
first time that I played the tuba before such a big audience."
Veterinary surgeon and amateur musician Roland Specker and his wife Friedel,
who come from the small German town of Erolzheim, echoed the Swiss student's
thoughts: "Shanghai has as large and as good an audience as we have at the
annual Stuttgart carnival."
Jetzr and Specker, together with members of 20 other bands and troupes from
China and abroad, performed at a local square for an audience of more than
10,000 on Monday night.
There will be 45 theatrical shows and 19 exhibitions of traditional and
contemporary performance over the course of the month.
(China Daily 10/19/2005 page2)
|
