The top-rated performing groups in the globe and world renowned maestros continued to be present at stage due to the charm and promising future of art festival such as conductor Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrinton , Korean maestro Myung-Whun Chung, conductor Erich Kunzel, Yo-Yo Ma, Violinist Joshua Bell, etc. 　　

Almost 500 delegates coming from 35 countries and regions attended the Shanghai International Performing Arts Fair 2005, with 137 Cooperation contracts signed including more than 10 premier Chinese productions exported. The festival forum has appealed to lots of qualified experts in international performing field with two themes "Motif Forum" and "China-Europe Forum". Michael. Kaiser, the president of America Kennedy Performing & Arts Center gave lecture on arts managements and operations. 　　

The 7th China Shanghai International Arts Festival presented 19 exhibitions and expositions with attendance of 150,000 such as "Masterpiece Expo of Chinese Arts& Crafts", "Exhibition on European Classic Painting in 15th and 16th Century", "The Treasures from Versailles", "Shanghai Biennale Urban Sculpture Exhibition". The 2005 Shanghai Arts Fair showcased 15,000 more arts and crafts, with some world masters works firstly unveiled in Shanghai. 　

"The Egyptian Cultural Week","Yunnan Cultural Week", "The 7th Asian Music Festival" and "The 3rd International Youth Piano Competition" were specialized art activities. "The Yunnan Cultural Week" was the first Chinese guest province cultural week in the festival. 　　

The traditional projects-the publicity activities of 64 large scale programs reflected the colorful, rich artistic atmosphere in Shanghai. Traditional repertoire, for example, "Everyday Performance", "Weekly Performance", "Community Activities from Home and Abroad" continued to be the big attractions to the citizen with more than 1.300.000 citizen taking part in. 　　

Furthermore, the ticket office achieved the great success with total of 87% sold out, the rate of attendance reaching over 90%. More than 70 enterprises sponsored the festival with various forms. 　　

(Source: www.artsbird.com)