Who we are

COMMITTEE

Stakeholder engagement, Education & Volunteer Programme

Ross Birrell is Professor of Contemporary Art Practice & Critical Theory at The Glasgow School of Art. As an artist Birrell makes site-specific film works, concerts and installations developed in collaboration with musicians from across diverse musical forms and traditions, including Cuban musicians in Cuba and Miami, Esperanza Azteca Youth Orchestra of Ciudad Juarez, Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra in a commission for documenta 14 in Athens (2017). His work Mariupolonaise (2022), featuring archival footage of Ukrainian concert pianist, Anna Fedorova, was screened simultaneously by Visual Culture Research Center, Kyiv, the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. Most recently, he developed the short film Who’s Listening? in collaboration with musicians from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Gaza, to mark the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 29 Nov 2025.

CHAIR / TRUSTEE

Wissam Boustany is an internationally renowned flautist, conductor, teacher. He is currently President of the British Flute Society, chairman of PalMusic UK, is President of the British Flute Society, Patron of Musicians for Peace and Disarmament and Patron of the British Susuki Music Association. In 1995 Wissam founded Towards Humanity, using music as a catalyst to support humanitarian projects. In 1997 he was awarded a knighthood in Lebanon in recognition of his music and humanitarian work. In 1998 he received the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum. Wissam’s recent interest in conducting led to the launch the Pro Youth Philharmonia in 2018, a professional training orchestra for emerging musicians, which wound down during the pandemic. Wissam continues to inspire and engage countless music lovers through his ‘Inner Journeys’ rehearsal/performance concept, based on his teaching which has become known as his ‘Method Called Love’.

FORMER CHAIR / TRUSTEE / PATRON

Finance & Audit

John Cope is a Chartered Accountant born in 1937. He was a Conservative MP from 1974 to 1997. From 1979 to 1994 he held various ministerial offices in the Governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, latterly as Paymaster General at the Treasury. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 1979 and was later Conservative Chief Whip there. He retired from the House in 2020. He has a long interest in Palestine where his wife was born. He helped to found PalMusic UK and is now a Patron and Trustee.

COMMITTEE

Projects, Programmes & Events

Jay Crossland moved to Palestine from England in 2011 as full-time brass teacher, and after a year as Ramallah branch Academic Supervisor, became Academic Director of the ESNCM in from June 2015 until (2020). 

A strong believer in providing quality music education through motivation, some of Jay’s initiatives included the Concerto Competition, where advanced students compete to play a concerto with the Conservatory Orchestra, and the Showcase, giving a platform to junior ensembles and outreach student groups. She has also maintained and developed relationships with musical institutions around the world.

From a family of musicians, Jay played from a young age and trained at Chetham's School of Music and the Royal College of Music in London. She is also a multi-instrumentalist, who performs on bass, piano and violin and works as an arranger and conductor. She is currently freelancing, training as a specialist in musicians’ physical and mental health and has a new role as Director (remotely) of the Musicians' Health and Movement Institute in Oslo.

COMMITTEE

Projects, Programmes & Events

Maysoon is of Palestinian heritage with family links to the founders of Birzeit University and the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. She is committed to safeguarding and promoting Palestinian heritage through cultural curation and community engagement. She has extensive experience in organising Palestinian cultural events and festivals in the UK, and  has organised numerous fundraisers for PalMusic UK. In 2025, she co-curated the ‘Voices of Palestine Festival’ at Kings Place London with PalMusic UK, which headlined ESNCM’s Daughters of Jerusalem choir. Maysoon is co-founder and director of Inspiring STEM Consulting, an independent consultancy specialising in scholarly, academic and scientific publishing.

PATRON

From 2000 to 2014, Colin Green was CEO of the charity the International Medical Education Trust 2000 (IMET2000) working primarily in Palestine but also in Africa (Senegal, Uganda, Ghana, Malawi) and the Ukraine. He has since then been Director of Overseas Development and Treasurer. He has worked in Palestine since 1984 when he was an early and active member of Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP), then helped establish the first Palestinian Faculty of Medicine in 1994 in Al Quds University, together with a charity (FQMS) to support it. IMET2000 are currently running six large 5-year projects in the West Bank and Gaza as well as work in Ukraine, Uganda, Tibet refugee camps in India and Ghana. His main interests apart from surgical research, healthcare education, support of cultural activities and advanced training for Palestinians, are conflict resolution and the putative role of child mental health professionals in changing perceptions between hostile groups.

COMMITTEE

Communications, PR, Social Media & Marketing 

Emma’s background is in English Teaching and copywriting. Her friendships across communities have also led her to manage, design, photograph and copywrite for social media accounts in solidarity with Palestine.

She organises local grassroots community events, amplifying the voices of Palestinian journalists, poets, singers, musicians, directors and writers. During the ‘Voices of Palestine Festival’, she raised the online profile of PalMusic UK, during which meaningful relationships were established across the capital, the country and globally - with Palestinian music and culture centred.

She enjoys spending time with her children and friends, writes poetry, paints - and music of every genre is always playing. She believes that music has the unique capacity to honour, galvanise, respond to and soothe every emotion, individual and community. Sharing more about PalMusic UK online means extending that opportunity to ever more people and with Palestine, vitally, at the musical heart of it all.

TRUSTEE

Finance & Audit

William joined the Board of Trustees of PalMusic UK as Treasurer in March 2024. He also holds the position of Company Secretary. He is a Chartered Accountant and works for a private debt investment fund in London. Prior to this he worked in the Audit & Assurance department of Forvis Mazars (2021-2024), focused on UK mid-market businesses in construction, pharmaceuticals and real estate. He has an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Birmingham.

FORMER CHAIR / TRUSTEE

Fundraising & Development

The Countess of Sandwich, Caroline Montagu has been involved with Saudi Arabia for 30 years, first as a business and financial writer and more recently studying civil society in Saudi Arabia, women’s issues, social services and the domestic NGO sector. Her most recent publication is a research report for Chatham House on aspects of Saudi civil society; among many others are a report for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the Saudi NGOs and a paper for the Middle East Journal. She has been a Research Associate of the SOAS’ London Middle East Institute, a committee member of the Saudi British Society, on the Saudi British Joint Business Council and an honorary member of the Middle East Association.

COMMITTEE

Projects, Programmes & Events

Bassem Abu Nimeh is a growth and venture builder based in the UK, working at the intersection of innovation, community, and culture. He is a co-founder of Nabad Dabke Troupe, a London-based collective dedicated to preserving and reimagining Palestinian cultural expression through performance and storytelling.

Professionally, Bassem works as a consultant at Accenture, where he supports organisations in building new ventures, driving growth, and unlocking innovation.

As a committee member at Palmusic, he is passionate about expanding the organisation’s reach and amplifying its cultural impact. He hopes to contribute to growing Palmusic’s audience, strengthening its initiatives, and creating new pathways for Palestinian music and artists to connect with communities globally.

COMMITTEE

Finance & Audit

Aidan Pettitt was a lecturer and then a civil servant at the Department for Education where he was responsible for funding schools and colleges. Since retiring he has been the chair of an adult education centre and of a charity providing interpreting services to refugees. He has also volunteered with a refugee support organisation in France and the UK. He is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, has visited Palestine on several occasions and has hosted musicians from the ESNCM visiting the UK.

He is passionate about music, despite having been an exceptionally poor piano player in his youth and is now too old to improve. Instead, he is an enthusiastic listener, with wide-ranging musical tastes. He believes music has the powerful ability to create unity among those who share hardship or face oppression, and to bring together people from different backgrounds through performance that transcends the political and cultural boundaries that often divide us.

COMMITTEE

Formerly orchestra manager of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, where he managed the Palestine Youth Orchestra, National Orchestra, and Palestine Strings, Tim has worked in management and producing positions at the CBSO, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera North, Trinity Laban, and most recently the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was Head of Programmes at the Centre for Young Musicians and Head of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra. Tim currently freelances for a variety of professional music groups, educational and arts organisations and as an orchestrator, conductor and music editor.

Tim has been fortunate to work with many styles of music, from Vera Lynn to German hip-hop, qawwali, Arabic song, international pop hits, and Bollywood. As an arranger he has worked with artists including Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, AR Rahman, Emile Sandé, Sona Mohapatra and Sonu Nigam and most of the leading UK orchestras. His orchestral arrangements and original music for theatre have been performed across the world, including at the BBC Proms where he has been lead arranger on two occasions. Tim holds music degrees from the universities of Nottingham and Surrey and a postgraduate diploma from the College of Law. He is currently Music Director of the London Bollywood Orchestra.

TRUSTEE

Projects, Programmes & Events

After studying in Lebanon and at Columbia University in New York, Lena Saleh started her professional career in teacher education with UNRWA in Nablus and Ramallah. She has also served as Director in Special Needs Education in Lebanon and as consultant to the Ministry of Labour and Social Development in Jordan for two years. Lena joined UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 1979 to 1999 as Senior Education Specialist, Head of Inclusive Education, before she moved to Palestine to work with the ESNCM as Deputy Director for Activities and PR.

TRUSTEE

Fundraising & Development

Usama Tuqan is a retired Senior Partner of Deloitte & Touche in the Middle East and he was responsible for the offices in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. He has also served as Director of Banking Industry in the firm.

COMMITTEE

Stakeholder engagement, Education & Volunteer Programme

Nicola won Exhibition Scholarships on both flute and piano at the Royal College of Music alongside various prizes for all-round musicianship and the Eve Kisch flute prize. Since then she has given solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and performed live on Classic FM and BBC radio 3. She has worked with the Bournemouth and London Philharmonic Orchestras and for the British Council on projects in Ecuador and recently in Turkey. Nicola has made several recordings and her recent release of the  complete  'Chants de Nectaire' by Koechlin was made Guardian Classical CD of the week. She is currently busy playing in various Opera productions, giving unaccompanied flute recitals from memory using a variety of flutes, folk flutes and whistles.

Nicola is passionate about making music available to all people in all places. Extensive work on Menuhin's 'Live Music Now!' scheme in her formative years made her acutely aware of the power of music to heal, build bridges and bring joy. She now works with LMN as a mentor and is co-founder of Rockhampton Folk Festival which has a large outreach project. 

Nicola has taught young Palestinian flute players online and feels privileged to be part of PalMusic UK and all that it can deliver, now more than ever