The Gaza Ministry of Culture and the ESNCM signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2019 to make sure the only grand piano in Gaza returns to Gaza’s active music scene and to ensure that all Gaza’s music institutes, ensembles and pianists can benefit from it. The MoU was signed at the Ministry of Culture in Gaza by the representative of the Ministry, Dr. Anwar al-Bar’awi and the Director of the ESNCM’s Gaza Music School, Dr. Ismail Dawoud.

The grand piano was donated by the Japanese government to the Palestinian people in 1997 along with a number of other musical instruments, which were distributed by the ministry of culture to various organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. In the war of 2014 the venue housing the piano was shelled by Israeli bombardments and the piano was damaged. In 2015 the piano was restored by the Belgian NGO “Music Fund”. The Ministry of Culture formed an expert committee to decide the fate of the piano, and it was agreed by the committee that the piano would be housed at the Gaza branch of the ESNCM for six months, which can be renewed. The ESNCM in coordination with the Ministry of Culture will ensure that the piano is made available to any music organization who wishes to benefit from it.

Click here to watch a 2015 documentary about the restoration of the grand piano