The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has cancelled its performance on Thursday night, amid a backlash over its decision to remove a pianist from the program due to comments he made relating to Gaza. The MSO had earlier this week removed highly acclaimed pianist Jayson Gillham from the performance after comments he made at a recital on Sunday, in introducing a piece, Witness , that was “dedicated to the journalists of Gaza”. Pianist Jayson Gillham.
On Thursday morning, the MSO announced it would cancel the entire concert, citing “safety concerns”. It said “an error was made in asking Jayson to step back from his performance on Thursday 15 August” and that it was working with Gillham and his management to reschedule the concert. Loading “While the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra maintains that a concert platform is not an appropriate stage for political comment, we acknowledge Jayson’s concerns for those in the Middle East and elsewhere.
“We recognise the strength of feelings of all parties on this matter and particularly acknowledge the dedication and commitment demonstrated by all our musicians and staff this week.” Gillham was giving a recital at MSO’s Iwaki Auditorium on Sunday, where he played Witness , a five-minute piece for piano by Australian composer Connor D’Netto. D’Netto’s website says the piece is “dedicated to the journalists of Gaza”.
Gillham has told this masthead he introduced the piece by saying: “Over the last 10 months, Israel has killed more than 100 Palestinian journalists. A number of these have been targeted assassinations of prominent journalists as they were travelling in marked press vehicles or wearing their press jackets..
