The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music

The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (Arabic: معهد ادورد سعيد الوطني للموسيقى‎ Ma`had Edward Sa`īd al-Waṭaniy lil-Musīqā) is a Palestinian music conservatory with branches in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza City. In total, there are more than 1000 students. It was established in 1993 as The National Conservatory of Music, with its first branch in Ramallah, opening in October of that year. In September 2004, as a tribute to the Palestinian scholar and musician Edward Said, an accomplished classical pianist, the name of the conservatory was officially changed to The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music.

The ESNCM administrates the Palestine Youth Orchestra and the Palestine National Orchestra, in addition to a number smaller projects. The recently formed Palestine Strings ensemble performed with Nigel Kennedy in 2012, and toured the USA in 2011. Its youth orchestra - the PYO - has performed in Palestine, Italy, Jordan, Greece, Bahrain, Germany, Syria and Lebanon. It enjoys the support of international partner institutions including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. The ESNCM's professional orchestra - the PNO - formed in December 2010, has performed in Palestine, Jordan and Indonesia. Both orchestras have an agenda of promoting music by living Arab composers. The ESNCM Orchestra, the only Palestinian symphony orchestra performing in Palestine today where all the musicians are drawn from the local communities, promotes concerts throughout the year in the main Palestinian towns and cities. It performs an eclectic mix of film western classical music, opera, arrangements of Arabic music and film music. The ESNCM has several resident Arabic music ensembles, student and professional, which have toured throughout the world, and its students have taken part in collaborative projects with well-known international musicians.

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