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Melbourne Symphony Orchestra says it will go to trial next week to defend an unfair dismissal case brought by a pianist whose concert it cancelled after he made comments on stage about Gaza, characterising the matter as a fight to “control” who appears on its stage.
Concert pianist Jayson Gillham is suing the orchestra in the Federal Court under the Fair Work Act for wrongful dismissal for expressing a political opinion. The trial is due to start on Monday, May 18.
The news comes as MSO tries to reassure subscribers and donors that it would not spend money they have contributed to the orchestra on legal costs for the case, and just weeks after the organisation reported a $1.7m deficit in its 2025 annual report.
Gillham, meanwhile, this week told the ABC that in proceeding with the case he is fighting for the freedom of artists “to be themselves on stage”. “I think everybody has that right, and that’s why I’m fighting the case.”
In a message to supporters on Thursday, the orchestra maintained that Gillham should have sought permission for the comments he made during the recital two years ago.
“A fundamental issue in dispute in the proceeding is who controls the MSO’s stage. The MSO maintains that Mr Gillham should have sought the authorisation of the MSO before making the statements he made from its stage,” the email, from MSO chair Edgar Myer and CEO Richard Wigley, states.
“While the MSO would have preferred to resolve matters and return its full focus to the music, the proceeding brought by Mr Gillham in the Federal Court of Australia will go to trial next week and will be defended by the MSO.”
In August 2024, the MSO removed the acclaimed pianist from a scheduled performance before completely cancelling the event days after an MSO recital during which Gillham introduced a piece, Witness, that he said was “dedicated to the journalists of Gaza”.
When cancelling the performance, the orchestra cited “safety concerns”. In a statement at the time, the MSO said his comments were not appropriate and “an intrusion of personal political views”. It later said it had made an error in cancelling Gillham’s shows.
The fallout led MSO musicians to send a vote of no confidence in the board and resulted in the sacking of managing director Sophie Galaise. A settlement was made between Galaise and the organisation for an undisclosed amount; both parties are bound by confidentiality agreements. Gillham reached an in-principle settlement with Galaise in March 2025, separate to his case against the MSO.
The London-based, Queensland-raised pianist is in Australia for the case and in July will perform in an independently produced tour, performing alongside Jordanian-Palestinian pianist Iyad Sughayer.
Gillham told the ABC he was positive about the upcoming tour but said: “I don’t want this to be seen as something that artists will need to do in the future in order to buy their ability to be themselves on stage.”
The MSO spent $689,000 on legal costs in 2024, and a further $954,000 on governance restructuring and redundancy payouts in that year, according to its annual report that year, much of which can be traced to the Gillham affair.
In a nod to the fact that the case will be an expensive undertaking, the email from Myer and Wigley also states: “A guiding principle of the MSO board is to ensure that all philanthropic funds are focused on the music and not expended on the trial,” though it is unclear from this specifically how the case will be funded.
A crowdfunding appeal by Gillham to aid with his legal costs titled “Justice for Jayson: Stand up for Free Speech & Artistic Freedom” has to date raised $176,190. In the text accompanying the appeal, Gillham claims: “I was silenced for speaking the truth – that Israel targets journalists” and highlights “a disturbing trend of silencing voices that speak to uncomfortable truths”.
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