Scheduled to run from February 3 to March 7, the 2004 Hong Kong Arts Festival will boast a record 110 performances featuring 36 top artistic groups from all over the world, the festival's Executive Director Douglas Gautier said in Shanghai yesterday.

Initiated in 1972, the arts festival is one of the oldest and most respected arts events in the Asia-Pacific region.

With "families" as its theme, the highlights of the 2004 edition include the London Symphony Orchestra with a celebration concert for its 100th anniversary and a Peking Opera show featuring three contemporary generations of the renowned Tan family, joined by Shang Changrong from the Shanghai Peking Opera House.

To lure more spectators, the organizer has launched a holiday package offer in Shanghai, said Gautier.

Under the sponsorship of Hong Kong-based enterprises like Dragonair and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, the package, priced at 2,290 yuan (US$276) and above, will include roundtrip air fare, luxury hotel accommodation and a 15 percent discount on festival tickets. Only those who book tickets through the festival's Website can avail of the tour package.

"Shanghai and Hong Kong are closely linked and I think audiences here also have the taste for such cultural extravaganza," explained Gautier when asked why Shanghai was chosen for the package-tour project.

Gautier added that he had watched some performances at the Fifth Shanghai International Arts Festival, which concluded in late November, and was impressed by its general artistic value and active participation of the local people.

(Shanghai Daily December 18, 2003)