An eclectic celebration of the arts will bring a festive atmosphere to an Aberdeenshire village later this week.
The main leg of the Aboyne and Deeside Festival gets under way on Friday with a diverse series of concerts and shows for locals to enjoy.
The event annually showcases writers, artists and musicians from both the UK and abroad, with a top line-up secured for 2016.
The fortnight of music and performance will take place from this weekend until August 5.
The David Patrick Dectet will commence the festivities on Friday at the Deeside Community Theatre in Aboyne with an acclaimed jazz interpretation of The Rite of Spring and Jeux, Debussy’s last orchestral masterpiece.
On the afternoon of Sunday, July 24 at Migvie Church, clarinetist Philip Green and cellist Megan Rold will create A Scottish Tapestry – a collection of traditional music dating back centuries.
The kirk will also play host to prize-winning poet Eddie Gibbons in the evening.
In the Aboyne and Dinnet Parish Church on Monday, July 25 guitarist Steve Garrett will play; whilst the next day, in the same venue, local historian Simon Welfare is presenting a talk on World War I.
The ever-popular Scots folk band, Old Blind Dogs, will return to Tornaveen Hall on Wednesday, July 27 at 7.30pm.
Then, the following day, clarinet and string trio, Philip Greene and Friends, will take to Aboyne’s St Thomas’s Scottish Episcopal Church.
On Saturday, July 30 the venue will also host the Festival’s Grand Variety Concert which will feature the likes of Tarland fiddler, Paul Anderson and his wife, Shona Donaldson.
Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside councillor, Geva Blackett, said: “I am so pleased to see the return of this event. It is a fortnight of something for everyone, locals and visitors alike, and a showcase of talent.
“Simon Welfare’s talk on the First World War is particularly poignant given the commemorations of the Somme’s centenary, and I shall make a point of going along.”
