Ramallah & Nablus 2011

The PYO came home to Palestine in 2011 delivering concerts at the Ramallah Cultural Palace and the new Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Theatre at An Najah National University of Palestine in Nablus. During two weeks of workshops, the students were also joined by an audience of 300 for an innovative multi-location performance through the streets of Birzeit's old town, featuring brass music from the roof-tops, percussion ensemble and Palestinian-Serbian gypsy jazz music in the square, Britten, Rossini and Mozart chamber music inside a packed restaurant and finishing with baroque music in the Latin Church. The main concert programme was conducted by Hilari Garcia from the University of Valencia, including Rossini's popular Thieving Magpie Overture, a work by Swedish composer Roger Johansson written specially for a rare visit to Palestine by oud maestro Ahmad Al Khattib, Tchaikovsky's spectacular Piano Concerto No. 1 with Palestinian pianist Fadi Deeb, and Shostakovich's Gadfly Suite.

Athens & Amman 2010

English Conductor Sian Edwards returned to the PYO with a team of coaches who regularly perform as principal musicians in the Amman Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera, the London Symphony Orchestra, Paris Conservatoire and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. An 80 strong member PYO performed new compositions by Issa Boulos, John Bisharat, Ahmed Al Khatib and Oystein Bru Frantzen, alongside an orchestral selection from Gershwin’s opera ‘Porgy and Bess’ and Haydn Symphony No. 94. The programme will be repeated on 28th November at the Megaron Concert Hall, Athens, on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The Athens concert also featured a collection of well known Arabic songs by Feiruz, Marcel Khalife and Samih Shkeir, performed by young singers from Hebron, Ramallah and most Gaza City, all finalists in the Palestine National Music Conservatory, and was attended by leading Palestinian and Greek political and cultural figures.

Beiteddine & Amman 2009

The PYO performed Marcel Khalife’s ‘Ahmad al-Arabi’ at the Beiteddine Festival in Lebanon with Omeima El-Khalil, Reem Talhami, Basel Zayed and Marcel Khalife himself as soloists. The tour ended with a concert of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 the ‘Eroica’, and Romance for Violin and Orchestra in F major with Palestinian violinist Basel Theodory as soloist at the Amman Festival.

Palestine, Jordan and Syria 2008

Walter Mik and students from Collegium Musicum Bonn returned to the PYO to realise the orchestra’s dream of performing in Jerusalem. Additional concerts were given in Haifa, Ramallah, Amman and Damascus. The concerts featured a performance of Khatchaturian’s ‘Gayane Suite’ alongside songs celebrating the city of Jerusalem by Stephen Adams, Rima Tarazi, Rim Banna, Suhail Khoury and the Rahbani Brothers, with Reem Talhami, Rim Banna and Dima Bawab as soloists. The same programme was performed by the PYO in Bahrain in March 2009

Germany 2007

The first of two collaborations with the Collegium Musicum of the University of Bonn and conductor Walter Mik, performing in Bonn and Berlin. The concerts included ‘Oriental Sketches’ by the renowned Palestinian composer and organist Salvador Arnita, and 'Manfa' and 'Longa to Marcel’ by the contemporary Chicago-based composer Issa Boulos and finished with Dvorak Symphony No. 5.

Amman 2006

British conductor Sian Edwards conducted the PYO at the Roman Amphitheatre in Amman through Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta, Mozart’s concert aria ‘Voi Avete un cor Fedele’ with Dima Bawab as soloist and Brahms Symphony No.1.

Jerash August 2005

Performance done in Jerash - Jordan Conducted by Anna-Sophie Bruening. About 60 musicians participated in the concert. Including permanent members, guests and tutors.

Performance done in Amman - Jordan Conducted by Anna-Sophie Bruening. About 60 musicians participated in the concert. Including permanent members, guests and tutors.