Palestine Youth Orchestra

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BIOGRAPHY

The Palestine Youth Orchestra (PYO) was created in 2004 by the ESNCM with the vision of bringing together young Palestinian musicians from around the world. Today the orchestra has established its position as a quality national youth orchestra on a par with similar ensembles worldwide.

The PYO comprises of young musicians of Palestinian origin residing around the world who are between 13 and 27 years of age. It has toured in Europe and the Middle East, at venues including the Royal Festival Hall in London, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, the Grand Théâtre de Provence, Megaron Musikis in Athens, Teatro San Carlo in Genoa and the Royal Opera House in Muscat as well as leading festivals such as the Ravello and Florence festivals and ISME 2016.

PYO musicians meet annually for a one-week residential course followed by a concert tour. From year to year, a different country is chosen for the residential course and the orchestra invites, alongside the young musicians of Palestinian origin, 10 to 15 young guest musicians from music institutions or youth orchestras of the hosting country.

The PYO has partnered with various international orchestras and conservatories including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Netherlands Youth Orchestra, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Conservatorio Paganini (Genoa), Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia (Rome), Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Soloists who have performed with the PYO include Conductors who have directed the PYO include Sian Edwards, Vincent de Kort, Nicolas Simon, Tom Hammond and Hilari Gárcia Gázquez. Soloists have included Marcel Khalife, Dima Bawab, Rim Banna, Alexander Suleiman, Ahmad Al Khatib, Omeima Khalil, Mariam Tamari, MAias Al Yamani, Mohamed Najem, Fadi Deeb, Karim Said, Reem Talhami, Nai Barghouti and winners of the Palestine National Music Competition.

The PYO is dedicated to promoting the work of Palestinian and Arab composers, alongside well-known standards of the Western symphonic repertoire.

ABOUT US

Torbjorn Ottersen, Timpanist and percussionist for the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

They are talented, motivated and positive representatives of a next generation of musicians

Lawrence Gill,

Clarinet (Scottish Opera), Chamber Music and Clarinet Professor, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

I want to thank you for one of the most rewarding human experiences I’ve had in our business of music making. Words are inadequate to express the warmth & humanity radiated from absolutely everyone and I am humbled by the wonderful sense of community spirit

VIDEO: Palestine Youth Orchestra - Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam

CONCERTS

Recent Concerts

Jordan 2024

Amman Academy Theatre

Turkey 2022

CSO Ada Konser Salonu

Ataturk Cultural Center

Northern Europe 2019

Kirkelandet Kirke, Kristiansund

Vår Frue Kirke, Trondheim

University Aula, Oslo

Lundby Nya Kyrka, Gothenburg

Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen

Musikhuset, Aarhus

Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

Jordan/Palestine 2017

Saint Joseph Cultural Center, Amman

Naseeb Azeez Shaheen Auditorium, Birzeit

An-Najah University, Nablus

United Kingdom 2016

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Perth Concert Hall

Leeds Town Hall

Town Hall Birmingham

St. David’s Hall, Cardiff

Royal Festival Hall, London

ALL PAST TOURS

REPERTOIRE

Recent Repertoire Highlights

Key Classical Repertoire

Beethoven - Symphonies No. 1,3,5 & 8

Mussorgsky (arr. Ravel) - Pictures at an

Exhibition

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture, Symphony No. 2,

Concerto No.1

Dvorak - Symphony No. 9

Korsakov - Capriccio Espanol

Gershwin - Porgy and Bess

Haydn - Symphony No. 92

Brahms Symphony No.1

Repertoire by Arab & Palestinian Composers

Marcel Khalife - Ahmad al-Arabi

Kinan Azmeh - November 22nd, Wedding

Rahbani Brothers - Ruddani ila Biladi,

Zahret al-Mada'en

Rim Banna - Wahdaha Btibqa Al-Quds

Ahmad al Khatib - Mystifying Transparencies

John Bisharat - Elegy in a Country Churchyard

Issa Boulos - Manfa

Suhail Khoury - Mary of Gaza, Salam li Gaza

Zakaria Ahmad - Bi Ridhak ya Khaliqi

Press

"It's our message to the world, music is our form of resistance"

"tthe Orchestra really came into its own, for which they were joined by singer Nai Barghouti, who injected as much expression into a single note as most vocalists manage in a whole song"

"the Palestine Youth Orchestra received a full standing ovation. Not even greats like the St. Petersburg Philharmonic get that when performing in Scotland"