The 13th China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) kicks off at the Shanghai Culture Square on Tuesday with an original dance drama from Henan province titled, Goddess and the Dreamer.

Ever since the CSIAF's first edition in 1999, it's the norm that if opened by a Chinese project, it will end with a performance from abroad, says Liu Wenguo, the festival's art director.

"We have chosen the ballet, The Taming of the Shrew, from Bavaria for the closing performance this year," he said at a press conference on Oct 16.

The festival, which will run till Nov 18, will feature 50 stage shows and 18 exhibitions. "Although we have a shorter list this year, we have better programs," Liu says.

Of the 27 performances from abroad, the most anticipated are the Bejar Ballet Lausanne's world premiere of the modern dance show La ou sont les oiseaux and a symphony concert by the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra which will present Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 5.

In order to help more people access the events, CSIAF organizers are offering 15,000-20,000 low-price tickets for the elderly, students and people with special needs, through 38 box offices located in residential communities.

"The average ticket price for all performances will be around 50 yuan,"says Chen Dong, vice-director of the city's publicity bureau.

Liu, the art director of CSIAF says, "More than 60 percent of all tickets have been sold for the first half of the festival. The most popular shows, 11 in total, are already 90 percent sold-out."

The festival will present a live broadcast of the concert by Berliner Philharmoniker, on an outdoor screen at Century Square in downtown Nanjing Road E, on the evening of Nov 13.