The 35th Aberdeen International Youth Festival opens on 1st August with a Launch Party and Ceilidh in the Music Hall, and be followed by the Festival Parade and three exciting concerts on Thursday 2 August.

Programmes are available for download from the website, or call us on 01224 213800 to be sent a copy.

The Launch Party and Ceilidh will feature a performance by Julie Fowlis - Julie won the award for Gaelic Singer of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2005 and was nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year 2007. She has been described as having "heart-melting vocals" (The Scotsman) and as performing "traditional music at its most seductive" (Daily Telegraph).

The performance will be followed by a ceilidh for the Festival Participants. We are pleased to be able to offer a selected number of tickets to the Launch Party free to the public. Tickets will be available from Monday 23rd July from Aberdeen Box Office, on a first come first served basis.

Aberdeen Box Office - Tel 01224 641122

12pm from the Music Hall.

Join the crowds lining the streets to meet the Festival participants in our colourful Opening Parade, along Union Street to the Castlegate.

Julian Lloyd Webber will be joining the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra as guest soloist for a performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Elgar's birth.

The concert will also feature Sir Malcolm Arnold's Four Scottish Dances, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Highland Cathedral.

The Festival is delighted to welcome O Duo - Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox.

Their performance in concert is gripping, their repertoire is a mix of popular classics and accessible contemporary music played on two marimbas, vibraphone and a huge array of percussion.

In a really special concert to launch the Festival's Touring Programme throughout Aberdeenshire, the Swiss Italian String Orchestra will be playing at the Melvin Hall, Tarves.

A chamber ensemble of 32 players from the top Swiss music school, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, they will present a programme of poular classics including Mozart (adagio & Fugue in C Minor) Mendelssohn (Symphony for Strings) and Grieg (Holberg Suite). Director A Modesti Mendelssohn Symphony for Strings No. 10 in B minor Semini Policromie, for String Orchestra Mozart Adagio and Fugue in C minor Greig Holberg Suite