Building Peace Through Classical Pieces

An interview with Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar, co-founder and executive director of Nazareth-based Polyphony, which helps build bridges between Arab and Jewish teens.

This week brings you a very special Drop. But before I get to the interview, I want to share an experience I had back in May.

I remember it being an exceptionally emotional week during the war. It began with an intense Israeli Memorial Day observance and hearing from the father of Shani Louk, the 22-year-old German-Israeli tattoo artist who was killed at the Nova Festival. Though Independence Day followed, it was a holiday marked with sadness since so many hostages were—and still are—in Gaza, and so many lives had been taken since the start of the war. It was the week in which five Israeli soldiers were killed in friendly fire. It was also the week I visited the Nova exhibit downtown, bearing witness as much as I could to that horrible day and commemorating the hundreds of lives lost and kidnapped.

My heavy heart yearned for community and prayer, the main ingredients to the ritual of Shabbat. When I’m in my neighborhood, I like to attend the reform synagogue near my apartment for services, because A) it’s fun to walk on Shabbat and B) while reform isn’t my go-to type of service anymore, this particular service offers peace, nostalgia, and comfort for me.

Well, it normally does. At one point during the service, a formerly wounded soldier and the doctor who healed him lead the congregation in a prayer for the hostages. What was supposed to be a meaningful moment of unity was interrupted by the man in front of me, who shouted, “But what about the Palestinians?”

A few heads of those who heard him turned, and his wife put her hand on his back to calm him down. I could feel his rage reverberating in the pews before me. It was a rage mixed with anguish that had probably been pent up for months. His pain was so apparent to me, that all I could think of was how the war was affecting everybody, no matter their views. Even in shul, even on Shabbat, it was hard to find a way out of the heavy emotions from the week.

That was… until the end of the service, a mix of Arab and Jewish teens took to the podium to perform classical music. They were students of Polyphony, an organization based in Nazareth, whose mission is to bridge the divide between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through classical music.

As they played Mendelssohn, I felt my shoulders drop, and the rest of my body ease into the pew in a way it hadn’t during prayer. This is what it was all about, I thought. The cohesion, the peace… why can’t we just have this all the time?

That’s why I had to interview Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar, Polyphony’s co-founder and executive director.

How did Polyphony start?

In 2006, I moved back from Germany where I did my masters in violin performance. I returned to Israel to found the first classical music conservatory in the Arab community in Israel, but specifically in Nazareth, my hometown. Our mission was to bring classical music into the Arab community and provide opportunities for young Arab children to excel in classical music. This is how we started in 2006. We founded this very small conservatory with 25 students and three teachers who were coming from Tel Aviv all the way to Nazareth to teach young Arab kids. The talent was incredible. The level of teaching was very high, and the whole setting was like a greenhouse.

To cut a long story short, in 2012, just six years after we founded the conservatory, two students from Nazareth, 15 and 16 years old, won first place at the Paul Ben Haim Competition in Tel Aviv, one of the major competitions in Israel. That was a defining moment. We realized how powerful music can be in breaking long existing barriers and stereotypes, and creating a common space for people to come explore what they have in common and create partnerships.

At that point, we thought of Polyphony as an organization, one that not only brings classical music to the Arab community in Israel, but one that impacts Israeli society by creating bridges and a common ground between Arabs and Jews.

In Israel, we run several programs. One of the special programs we have is called the Music and Society Seminar, where every year we have 10 Arab musicians from Nazareth and 10 from Tel Aviv commit to be in the program for two years. They meet every month for a weekend, alternating between Nazareth and Tel Aviv. They create friendships, rehearse chamber music, engage in lectures and discussions, and get to know each other, trust each other, and open up to each other.

Another program that Polyphony runs is the Galilee Chamber Orchestra, which is Israel’s first professional Arab and Jewish chamber orchestra. At this point, it has over 15 members that are Arab and the rest are Jewish. We have somewhere between 36-40 members of the orchestra. It had its debut last year at Carnegie Hall. It’s not easy to get to Carnegie Hall, but for me the challenge was returning to Carnegie Hall. I’m happy to tell you that next year, on the 18th of November, 2025, we’re returning to Carnegie Hall again. Mark that date and come see us.

How does the program foster dialogue across differences, and how has this looked post-October 7th?

Engaging in dialogue and communicating is an integral part of our program. First, it’s the music that brings people together. The music is just the beginning of this journey to start engaging in conversation, because it helps them feel they have something in common and builds a personal connection. You’re already creating something beautiful together.

Once that’s already established, you no longer regard the other as a stranger but as someone with whom you’ve interacted. It becomes more about understanding different narratives and about what the other thinks, the different realities and discovering the similarities they have. It’s a long process with lectures, discussions, and dialogue. They rehearse together and then attend lectures by faculty from Tel Aviv University about something related to the arts and there’s still a social, historical context to it. When we advance in the program, the things we talk about become more explicit, stimulating conversation and an even stronger connection. They also build skills to engage and empathy toward each other.

We were highly encouraged to see how these connections withheld the events of October 7th. Music is just one element but cannot do the whole work alone. Every year we learn something new about our model and programs, and we make adjustments and refinements as needed.

Can you share a memorable moment or story that highlights the positive impact of your work?

There are a couple of moments for me that were very moving and demonstrated how much progress we have made. One was the second week of November when students from Tel Aviv came to Nazareth for the first time for the weekend in spite all that was happening. They insisted to still come and meet. Nazareth was a ghost town. No one was coming in and out but you had 10 Jewish kids with 10 Arab kids spending the whole weekend together, talking for hours and hours. We worked on two films together that were playing in the Solidarity Film Festival in Tel Aviv. They put themselves in young shoes of Palestinians of Gaza, imagining all these different things they must be going through. To see the Jewish students able to relate in that way and have empathy despite all that’s happening moved me to tears. The other film was more abstract, featuring a person who experienced big trauma in her life and she sees the world only from the view of her room.

If there’s ever going to be a resolution to this conflict it’s got to start by relating to the pain of the other, realizing that this conflict is inflicting so much pain on everybody on both sides. Nobody owns suffering, and when people realize that everyone is suffering, the minute you think about the other, that’s going to be an important step in trying to understand how this could be resolved and not just managed.

How has founding this group changed your perspective on conflict resolution and cultural exchange?

A lot. Creating it and believing in its vision and mission meant that I believe I can find partners within Israeli society and the Jewish communities that share similar values as I do and envision this similar Israeli society as I do. The process of that vision has led me to reach out to and meet with so many Jewish organizations and people I wouldn’t have otherwise met. Building trust on common ground has made me believe it’s possible to advance this shared Israeli society. I have been creating relationships with U.S. Jewish supporters and partners. Through this relationship building, I’ve become more acquainted with the Jewish culture and faith in a way that transcends the politics, helping me become more open and receptive. In Israel, I’ve never gone into a synagogue. Here in the U.S. Polyphony performs at synagogues across the country continuously.

What are you up to now in the short term?

We now have a group of eight musicians from Israel performing on August 5th at Carnegie Hall. They were invited to be guests at the National Youth Orchestra. Now I am getting my Mid-Career Master in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

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Thank you for reading! Nabeel and I hope that one day Palestinians and Israelis can one day live side by side in dignity, security, and safety.

And if you could tell us what polyphony in music is in the comments below, you win a metaphorical Shabbos treat!

Shabbat Shalom,