The founder of the Aberdeen International Youth Festival has died, aged 88.
Joy Bryer OBE, the co-founder and president behind the European Union Youth Orchestra and other landmark festivals celebrating young artists, died on Sunday November 11.
The American-born life-long advocate for the performing arts founded the International Youth Foundation of Great Britain in 1969, along with her husband Lionel – with former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath as its first president.
The charitable organisation, designed to promote international cooperation and understanding among the youth of the world, held its first major event in Switzerland – the International Festival of Youth Orchestras and Performing Arts – that same year.
Together with her husband, Mrs Bryer recruited young orchestras from across the globe to play together in harmony in the Swiss town of St Moritz.
Following the success of the festival, the British Tourist Authority inquired about bringing the event to the UK and in 1973 it expanded to Aberdeen and London.
Thanks to the huge support offered to the festival in Aberdeen, Mrs Bryer and her husband decided to make the Granite City the permanent base for the festival.
It would go on to become the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, which ran in Aberdeen for decades afterwards until earlier this year when it was announced the celebration of youth performance would be wound up.
Over the years, Mrs Bryer became highly regarded all across Europe for her work to promote music and culture.
She accumulated numerous accolades over her 50-year career, receiving the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French Government in 1996, the Officer de l’Ordre Grand-Ducal de la Couronne de Chene from the Luxembourgish Government 1997, and a medal of honour from the president of the European Parliament in 1998.
In 2017, she was made an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of her service to arts, culture, young people, education and international relations in Britain.
On the day she died, her orchestra performed at the Armistice Commemoration at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, in front of 70 heads of state.
She is survived by her three daughters and six grandchildren.