Shanghai Art festival promotes young artists

The Shanghai International Arts Festival has given young artists a chance to network while they perform. The festival wrapped up on Tuesday, but many of the young artists now have the opportunity to work with international art organizations.

The closing show of the one-month art event featured the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, and Chinese pianist Lang Lang performing a Prokofiev concerto. It's the first time in the festival's 14-year history that both the opening and closing shows had foreign performers.

Han Xiang, spectator, said,"We had the chance to watch many foreign shows this year. It is easier for us to watch Chinese plays, so I prefer the art festival bringing more international performances every year."

Michael Wrinn, British spectator, said,"I think Shanghai has become very international, cosmopolitan, becoming one of the major arts cities of the world, step by step."

But organizers say presenting more international shows is just one part of the festival's mission. What they want to achieve even more is promoting Chinese performances on the global stage. This year, the festival introduced a program called "Chinese Youth Talent" that invited more than 40 international performing arts organizations, including the Salzburg Festival and Edinburgh International Festival, to see the best of young Chinese artists. By the end of the festival, 25 cooperative projects had been signed.

Wang Jun, president of Shanghai International Arts Festival, said,"The Shanghai International Arts Festival has grown in the past 14 years, and we should not only import good foreign shows to local audiences, but also offer a platform for Chinese plays to export, especially for those young talents. This year's art trade fair and the young talent program has achieved some good results and we will continue our efforts in this area."

One big name at this year's festival says he'd like to help young Chinese artists in their efforts to stand out on the international stage.

Valery Gergiev, conductor of Marinsky Theater Orchestra, said,"Your young generation, of course will demonstrate more and more successful power and strength to the rest of the world. But competition is very high, you just have to continue to grow, even if you are not famous immediately. If you don't have a big contract, you still have to grow."

This year's festival attracted more than 130 performing arts organizations from 56 countries. And half of the performances were either foreign shows or done by international artists. That is an almost 10 percent increase from last year. Organizers say more than 150,000 spectators went to the festival this year, and nearly 30 percent of the shows were sellouts, including the opening opera "La Boheme", the San Francisco Symphony's concert and "The Lady of the Camellias" by the Stuttgart Ballet.

Zhang Yuan, Shanghai, said,"Although this year's festival included a record number of international performances, organizers say they want next year's event to be even more global. And they have started talking with foreign performing arts organizations on further collaboration."