Pianist cancelled by MSO says orchestra’s brand has ‘nosedived’ after London protest

The pianist whose performance was cancelled by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra says the organisation has taken a “nosedive” internationally following a protest during its performance at London’s BBC Proms.

A group calling itself Jewish Artists for Palestine claimed responsibility for disrupting the MSO’s performance at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday.

Jewish Artists for Palestine protesters at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Friday night. The group disrupted the MSO’s performance during a live broadcast for the BBC Proms.Credit: Artfrontline/X

The concert was for a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast, but the music had to be stopped and the event restarted.

“The MSO has blood on its hands,” yelled a woman in the crowd, in a video uploaded to social media. “You silenced Jayson Gillham! The MSO is complicit in genocide!”

British-Australian musician Gillham has been at the centre of a censorship row since last August, when he dedicated a piece of music to Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza at an MSO recital. He was removed from a performance with the orchestra the following week.

Gillham said the protest in London showed the MSO’s brand had taken a “nosedive globally” by censoring him.

Pianist Jayson Gillham.Credit: Simon Schluter

“Silencing someone who wants to bring awareness to injustice and honour brave Palestinians resisting their own genocide is unpopular with artists everywhere,” he said.

“Artists do not want to be forced into silence on Palestine in order to get work and maintain a career in this industry. The MSO can work to rectify this by affirming that artists can and always have spoken on issues of conscience and have a right to do so on stage.”

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Gillham said he felt for his orchestra colleagues who had to “endure” the protests despite having played no part in his cancellation.

The MSO initially apologised for removing Gillham from their line-up at a planned show in August last year, then retracted the apology and said his actions were not about free speech and were instead “an intrusion of personal political views”.

The MSO later said it had made an error in cancelling Gillham’s shows.

The pianist has since reached an in-principle settlement with former MSO managing director Sophie Galaise, but is still suing the MSO. The trial begins on December 1.

On its website, Jewish Artists for Palestine said its members were angry that the MSO had accepted “principal funding from the Gandel Foundation”, which it described as “vocal supporters of the genocide in Gaza, and long-time associates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.

There is no suggestion that the allegation is true, only that it has been made by the Jewish Artists for Palestine group.

The Gandel Foundation has also been in the sights of Melbourne’s pro-Palestine protesters, who rallied outside the National Gallery of Victoria in late July in protest against the gallery receiving the family’s financial backing.

On July 27, pro-Palestine protesters marched on the gallery, sending it into lockdown, writing on the gallery wall slogans such as “NGV funded by Zionists”, and holding banners which said, “NGV, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide”.

After the NGV protest, Premier Jacinta Allan labelled the actions extremist and antisemitic, saying the demonstrators were shameful and that she supported the Gandel family.

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