About Us

NIGEL OSBORNE 

Nigel Osborne MBE BA (Hons) BMus (Oxon) PhD DLitt DHumLItt FRCM FEIS FRSE is a composer and Emeritus Professor of Music and Human Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of the “grandparent” generation of music therapists and special needs educators and has trained therapists and special education teachers at both graduate and undergraduate levels – for example at the Guildhall School of Music. the former Hertfordshire College of Higher Education and International universities including Bologna, Rijeka, Hannover, the Vienna-Prague-Budapest Summer Academy, Oliver Sacks’ Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, the Bronx, the Irish World Academy Limerick, Peking University, Harvard, CalArts and UCLA – and is Chair of the Swedish Share Music Knowledge Base for the performing arts and disability. He has pioneered methods using music to support children who are victims of conflict in the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East and South East Asia. He is also currently working with X-System Ltd., Johns Hopkins University Baltimore and Srebrnjak Children’s Hospital Zagreb, using music to reduce seizures among children with epilepsy and multiple special needs, as well as with Stanford University CA and others on a remote co-creation platform for disabled musicians. He has been awarded the Queen’s Prize, Thorne EMI Prize and the Freedom Prize of the Peace Institute Sarajevo for his work with traumatised children, and the Doubleday Medal of the University of Manchester Medical School for contributions to medicine.

SAHAR MATTA 

Since her early childhood, music was her passion . She started taking guitar lessons as well as vocalise. Sahar also participated in different choirs as a singer and guitar player and led “our lady of lebanon children choir “. She took charge of many musical events as of Marriages , schools and private celebrations in Europe. She has a degree in Music education from the Lebanese University and filled the position of Music educator at the following schools : Deutche schule, Ecole des lazaristes, Antonine international school . Over 15 years of music teaching experience, she worked with students of all ages and levels and loves incorporating fun games and activities into her lessons. She participated in voluntary Human missions in different countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Palestinian refugee camp in Dbaye lebanon and recently she started working in EDA syrian Main training center at Arsal – Bekaa – lebanon as Music Educator and Therapist.

NOUR EDEEN AL AUSTA

Nour Edeen Al Austa is a Syrian percussionist and photographer living in Arsal, Lebanon. He is originally from Damascus, Syria, and was forced to leave as a refugee. Today he works for Edinburgh Direct Aid presenting musical and lyrical performances for children and people with special needs. 

LORETTA MOROSIN

Loretta Morosin BEd MPhil (Educational Rehabilitation), Professor of Defectology (the education of children with sensory, physical, cognitive and neurological impairment) is Director and Principal of the Day Centre for Rehabilitation Veruda, one of Croatia’s leading Centres for special needs. Loretta has wide experience including work for the Society for Cerebral Palsy providing individual rehabilitation treatments to preschool children with developmental disabilities and at the Centre for Occupational Therapy in Vodnjan offering Counselling and therapeutic procedures for people with disabilities. Loretta is a Fellow of the Croatian Academy for Developmental Rehabilitation and was President of the Society Our Children, Vodnjan from 2000 to 2010 and Secretary from 2010 to 2014. She was host of the children’s show Mala škola from 1994 to 2004 on HRT Radio Pula, is a Member of the Croatian Centre for Drama Education, and served as Head of drama workshops for children in the Society Our Children, Vodnjan from 2000 to 2010.

CLEA FRIEND

Clea Friend BMus (Hons) MSc MMus Cert.Ed has worked as a community music practitioner and cellist since studying at Edinburgh University and in America. She is also a qualified secondary school music teacher. She has experience of working with children and adults with additional needs in the UK and abroad. She has recently created a Music Hub in her community through which she offers a wide variety of activities and events, including sessions for children on autistic spectrum and song writing in the local primary school, to help heal the damage left by the impact of Covid. She also works as a professional counsellor, yoga teacher and audio-describer for those with disabilities. Clea founded her chamber group ’Artisan’ in 2009 which has commissioned and performed over twelve new works and also manages and plays in ‘Recitals for Wrigglers’ – concerts for babies and toddlers which has enjoyed sell-out performances across the globe. Her qualifications include Masters degrees in Music in the Community from Edinburgh, and in performance studies from Eastman School of Music and Ithaca College in upstate New York. She performs regularly with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

MIMI SERBEDZIJA

BA (Hons) is a singer-songwriter and graduate of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts. Mimi has volunteered to work for EDA in Arsal in preparation for further studies in Music Therapy.