The stoush between the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a pianist has escalated, with legal action filed in the Federal Court.
The pianist whose performance was cancelled by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra after he made comments during a concert about journalists killed in Palestine has filed legal action in the Federal Court.
British-Australian musician Jayson Gillham has been at the centre of the MSO censorship row since August, when he introduced a piece of new music by Connor D’Netto calledThe MSO intially apologised for removing Gillham from their line-up at a planned show the following week, then retracted that and sent a strongly worded rebuke of the pianist via their lawyers, Arnold Bloch Liebler .
In an open letter, the lawyers said the pianist “abused his position by using an MSO concert to air his political opinions. He did so improperly. As was inevitable, it caused distress to many members of the audience.”In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Gillham said: “I was silenced for speaking the truth – that Israel targets journalists.”“This situation goes beyond just artistic freedom,” Gillham’s statement said.
Former federal arts minister and lead singer of Midnight Oil Peter Garrett has been appointed to lead the review, which the orchestra says will “evaluate MSO’s policies, procedures and processes, and cover protocols around freedom of speech and artistic expression on stage”.
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