In short: The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra admits it made an error when it pulled pianist Jayson Gillham from an upcoming performance over comments he made about the killing of journalists in Gaza.
The MSO said it made an “error” in cancelling his performance, but maintains their concert was not an appropriate place to express personal views.
What’s next? The orchestra’s August 15 concert, which was expected to go ahead without Mr Gillham, has now been cancelled due to security issues but the MSO wants to reschedule the performance.
It’s a basic expectation that if you’re performing a piece, especially at its world premier you’re going to talk a bit about the piece. That’s literally what he did. He didn’t bring up personal politics out of nowhere.
There is no justification for even the mildest of criticism against him, except for being a supporter of Israel’s genocide. They’re already removed the possibility of claiming not to be political thanks to their prior (and recent) actions.
“Agree with me or you support genocide”.