Who Am I
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.