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AIYF performers are music to the ears of Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital

Date: Monday, August 1

Time: 10am

Venue: Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital

What: Aberdeen International Youth Festival performers Zilia String Trio will play on the wards

Talented performers from Aberdeen International Youth Festival (AIYF) are set to put a smile on the faces of patients at the city’s children’s hospital. Ziliah String Trio will be doing the rounds on the wards on Monday August 1 to give sick kids the chance to experience the sights and sounds of AIYF.

Stewart Aitken, artistic director of AIYF, said he hoped the performance would brighten their day. He added: “Many of these youngsters and facing up to very serious illnesses and have been in hospital for long periods of time. We wanted to do something that would help to brighten their day and also take their minds off the fact that they are in hospital, even if it is only for a short time. It’s a well known fact that music can help to lift spirits, so we hope that the young patients and their families will enjoy the performances and find them beneficial.”

Zilia String Trio, all graduates of the prestigious London Royal Academy of Music, will be playing a selection from their extensive repertoire, which includes classical, traditional, jazz and popular music. The girls – Ruth Rimer, Laurie Anderson and Hester Chapman – play viola, violin and cello and have played together in the prestigious Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. The trio all share a passion to providing musical workshops to audiences with physical and learning difficulties. They perform at AIYF Live Music Now Scheme, which focuses on bringing music of the highest calibre to audiences with limited access to live concerts.

There will be a second set of musical visitors to the hospital later in the week when Little Larks, a Glasgow-based musical theatre group, pays a visit. The group specialises in working with young people from the age of two upwards, introducing them to music through theatre and song.

AIYF runs until August 6 with performances all over the city. Now in its 39th year, it brings together the world’s most talented youngsters across the whole spectrum of youth arts from music and song to dance and theatre. Performers are also appearing at venues from Dunfermline to Inverness as part of the extended festival programme.

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