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In 2011, Mahmoud Abuwarda was grocery shopping for his mom when he came across an item that would change his life forever: a guitar. It was a toy guitar for a child, but it didn’t matter. Mahmoud, who was 21 at the time, was committed to learning the instrument, even though he didn’t know of any guitar teachers where he lived in Gaza. That purchase set him on a path to becoming a classical guitarist, a music teacher, and now a composer whose pieces are premiering around the world.
“I always thought about composition,” says Mahmoud. “I wanted to write music. I always asked myself how composers compose such music. Eastern music, normally it’s monophonic. But I was curious about harmony, counterpoint, how to write for orchestra, for bands, how to write jazz music.”
In 2020, Mahmoud earned his professional certificate in Music Theory and Composition from Berklee Online, and in the five years since, he has written for guitar, piano, cello, chamber ensembles, and full orchestra. Mahmoud currently lives in Istanbul with his wife and two young children, and teaches music at two international schools. After leaving Gaza for their safety in 2022, Mahmoud’s music has provided him with solace and purpose as war has taken a toll on him and his family, including his parents and siblings, who are still in Palestine.
“I wanted to get a better life here for my family,” he says. “You know the situation in Gaza, Palestine. It’s really bad there. So during the war that occurred in 2021, at that time I had one kid, so I said, ‘No, it’s time to leave.’”
Mahmoud Abuwarda’s piece “Dream of a Quiet Sky” performed by pianist Salam Murtada. “In those dark times, I found myself longing for something simple yet profound: a quiet sky,” Mahmoud says on his website. “A sky free of violence, where the only sounds would be the wind and the songs of birds, not the echoes of destruction.”
Studying Guitar
In 2012, one year after he started teaching himself guitar, Mahmoud met Pedro López de La Osa. Pedro taught guitar at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, which is a part of Birzeit University and has a music program for students ages 8–14. Mahmoud asked Pedro if he could play a few songs for him to see how his skills were progressing. He played “Capricho Árabe” by Francisco Tárrega and “Asturias” by Isaac Albéniz.
“He was working very hard,” says Pedro, who has his doctorate in musicology and now lectures at University of California, Riverside. “He was very smart, very musical, but needed to work on his technique. It usually is the big problem, so I know how to deal with that because of my experience.”
Pedro talked to his program director and arranged for Mahmoud to study at Birzeit University, while teaching guitar to the children and teens at the conservatory. Mahmoud simultaneously took online guitar lessons with Pedro to continue refining his guitar skills.
“He said, ‘We are looking in the conservatory for a good guitar teacher and we cannot find a good guitar teacher in Gaza. We have seven branches for this conservatory, and like 85 percent of the teachers are coming from outside Palestine, from the United States and Europe, to teach there,’” says Mahmoud about the conversation.
Pedro also helped Mahmoud apply for scholarships across the US and Europe. He received 13, including one from Berklee, but could not take advantage of them because he couldn’t travel outside of Gaza. Despite the disappointment, Mahmoud carried on studying and teaching guitar. But at this point, he was ready to start writing his own music.
Studying Composition at Berklee Online
While researching composition techniques, Mahmoud discovered Berklee Online’s certificate program. He contacted one of the foundations that had previously funded one of the scholarships that he lost, and they agreed to cover the first semester of the program. The following semester, his instructor, Mark Zaleski, recommended Mahmoud for the Berklee Online Celebrity Scholarship, and he was awarded the Gary Burton scholarship. Mahmoud completed his certificate with a 4.0 GPA and made the dean’s list.
“He always came with a high level of energy, a deep level of respect, tons of enthusiasm, and frankly, work that was inspirational,” says Zaleski. “The goal in the music theory and composition classes is to come up with a new piece of music every single week. And pretty much every week, Mahmoud brought something to the table that could have been published. But at the same time, he had all kinds of great questions and never had an overconfident, ‘I can already do this’ kind of attitude.”
Mahmoud Abuwarda’s piece Nocturne No. 2 “Stars Over the Sleeping City,” which he started writing in his Berklee Online music theory and composition courses. “This nocturne is not about conflict, but about the silence before it,” Mahmoud says on his website. “It is a meditation on time, memory, and the fragile stillness that lingers, if only for a moment, beneath a sky full of stars.” The recording by Italian pianist Alberto Nones premiered in May 2025, and the live performance premiered June 2025 at the Montecassiano Music Festival in Italy.
Becoming a Composer
With his new Berklee credential, Mahmoud was promoted to Head of the Guitar department for seven different branches of the Edward Said National Conservatory. He then secured teaching jobs in Istanbul at Rumeli International School and Zemas International College.
Additionally, Mahmoud wrote two books: The East Classics, which includes 30 Arabic songs he arranged for guitar. The music composition software Dorico highlighted Mahmoud about his book on their website. He also authored Harmonious Beginnings, which shares his method for teaching music at international schools.
Adil Al Zahrani performs Mahmoud Abuwarda’s arrangement of “Kan El Zaman W Kan” from his book The East Classics.
Mahmoud’s repertoire of music is premiering across the globe, and he’s also being commissioned for new pieces. For the first time in his life, he will be traveling to Italy in August 2025 to give a guitar masterclass. Right now, Mahmoud’s priority is to make money for his wife and children, and to send money back to his family in Gaza. However, he would like to continue his music studies with Berklee Online in the future.
“Without this study at Berklee, without the support from my guitar teacher, from other teachers and instructors at Berklee, and also without our foundation, who supported me to start the journey at Berklee, I would not be who I am now,” he says.
