MSO cancels pianist’s show after dedication to journalists killed by Israel in Gaza

Melbourne (Quds News Network)- The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) has canceled an acclaimed pianist’s upcoming recital after he premiered a piece of music and dedicated it to Palestinian journalists killed by Israel in its genocide war in Gaza.

The Australian-British pianist Jayson Gillham was scheduled to perform Mozart and Brahms at the Melbourne Town Hall on Thursday with the MSO, but Gillham’s name was removed from the MSO website on Tuesday.

The MSO has said it is reworking the programme after Gillham introduced the piece by saying Israel had killed more than 100 journalists in Gaza, the Guardian reported.

In an email sent to patrons, the MSO stated Gillham would no longer be performing because of “a series of introductory remarks” he made during a previous concert on Sunday.

At that concert at Iwaki Auditorium in Southbank, Gillham had performed a number of songs, including the world premiere of Witness by Connor D’Netto – which the MSO said was a late addition to the programme.

The five-minute piece is dedicated to the journalists of Gaza and was written for Gillham, according to D’Netto’s website. On Wednesday morning, Gillham’s team released the full transcript of what he said while introducing Witness.

“Over the last 10 months, Israel has killed more than one hundred Palestinian journalists,” Gillham told the crowd on Sunday.

“A number of these have been targeted assassinations of prominent journalists as they were travelling in marked press vehicles or wearing their press jackets. The killing of journalists is a war crime in international law, and it is done in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world.”

“In addition to the role of journalists who bear witness, the word Witness in Arabic is Shaheed, which also means Martyr.”

In its email, MSO told patrons that Witness was performed at the request of Gillham “on the basis that it was a short meditative piece” but that he made personal remarks “without seeking the MSO’s approval or sanction”.

“They were an intrusion of personal political views on what should have been a morning focused on a program of works for solo piano,” the email read.

“The MSO does not condone the use of our stage as a platform for expressing personal views”, it continued, adding Gillham’s remarks caused “distress”.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has become the deadliest war for journalists in recent history, with the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists recording that at least 113 Palestinian journalists and media workers were killed in Israel’s war in Gaza.

In a statement to the Guardian Australia, the MSO said it was “not made aware of the content [or] the remarks Mr Gillham was intending to make”.

“They were made without authority and went beyond the remit of his contract,” the statement said.

On its page promoting Gillham’s previous event, the MSO described the musician as “one of the finest pianists of his generation”.

In a statement, D’Netto told the Guardian he had written Witness “a few months back” for Gillham.

“I dedicated it to the journalists in Gaza, their bravery and sacrifice had been on my mind a lot.
“The piece isn’t necessarily ‘about’ anything, it is a quite simple, perhaps slightly melancholy, meditative piece.”

He said he had titled it Witness as he was contemplating social media and how people are seeing “horrific images” – not just from Gaza, but around the world.

“Our gut reaction might be to look away [but] it is each of our responsibility to at a minimum acknowledge these things.”

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said it was “disturbed” by reports Gillham had been “sanctioned for simply voicing a personal view” about Israel’s war in Gaza.

The union said musicians with the MSO were not consulted on the decision to cancel the Gillham performance.

“Musical and artistic expression have long been a vehicle for political commentary and a lens through which we examine the world, and MEAA is concerned that freedom of expression is being compromised across the creative workforce,” the statement, released on Wednesday morning, said.

“Creative workers should not feel the need to restrict the expression of their opinions for fear of damaging their careers.”

The MEAA said it takes “allegations of censorship and harassment extremely seriously” and will support the freedom of members to express political opinions.

Gillham did not make any further statement beyond releasing the transcript from Sunday’s performance, the Guardian said.