Published: 8 February 2018
Last updated: 5 March 2024
In 1993, a group of musicians started a Palestinian national music school in Ramallah that has developed into the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. It now has branches in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza.
In 2010, the conservatory decided to revive the national orchestra by bringing musicians together from all around the world.
"It took us a year to collect all the names, make calls and get the names and numbers... We created a network, and they came from all over the world," explains Mohammed Fadel, musician and cofounder of the PNO.
"People from abroad helped us. So did others from the Arab world. They trained our members on how an orchestra works. It was the birth of the first Palestinian orchestra and gathering of musicians."
The musicians come from different backgrounds but are all equally proud of their Palestinian origins. They're thrilled to be invited to join the orchestra and moved by the shared experience of bringing quality classical Western and traditional Arab music to their target audience in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
FULL STORY The Palestinian Diaspora orchestra (Al-Jazeera)
