The Palestine Youth Orchestra (PYO) – one of the most important projects at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music – was founded in 2004 with the vision of bringing together Palestinian youths between the ages of around 14 and 25 from the occupied Palestinian territories, from historic Palestine, and from all over the Diaspora including Jordan, Syria, Europe and the USA to create a prestigious national youth orchestra on a par with those worldwide. In 2007, the PYO performed in two Performances in Germany with the orchestra of the Collegium Musicale of the University of Bonn. Besides performing Dvorak's Fifth Symphony, they played, for the first time, Oriental symphonic works by the late Palestinian composer Salvador Arnita and the contemporary Palestinian composer Issa Boulos.