Now that the Festival's participants have returned home we are taking time to reflect on the success of AIYF 2006 and would like to thank you for your support.

The Festival showed itself to be a generator of exciting and innovative work. There were more projects creating original work with emerging talent than ever before.

The Festival also boasted some of the world's top talent including the Spanish National Youth Orchestra, Laudibus (the chamber choir of the UK's National Youth Choir) and Umdumo Wesizwe from Zimbabwe as well as leading international artists such as Julian Lloyd Webber and Jose Serebrier.

AIYF worked with Youth Music Theatre UK to create an original music theatre piece based on 'Great Expectations'. Over thirty young performers worked with ground-breaking director Gerry Flanagan on a two week residency in Aberdeen before presenting the acclaimed co-production at Aberdeen Arts Centre.

Aberdeenshire Youth Theatre was formed as part of an AIYF commissioned supported by the Scottish Arts Council, Waste Aware Aberdeen and STV. The 28 young actors rehearse in Inverurie with director Rona Mitchell and specialist artist Al Seed (from The Arches, Glasgow). The resultant production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was performed for three nights at the Lemon Tree and was one of the hits of the Festival. "Side-splitting Shakespeare at its best" Evening Express