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Melbourne Symphony Orchestra says it made 'error' in cancelling pianist's performance after Gaza comments (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

the MSO’s event is not a platform from which to espouse political views

What absolute nonsense. He was playing a piece of music literally dedicated to journalists murdered by Israel. The piece was on the programme at that concert, it's not like he surprised them with it in an encore. (I know the public isn't usually made aware of what piece might be played for an encore. I dunno if the host orchestra normally would be. Not that that's relevant here anyway.)

If you don't want politics, don't get involved in the arts. Expecting no comment to be made about Israel's war crimes is like expecting a Shostakovich concert to never mention the Nazis & WWII or Stalin and his artistic crackdowns. Or to perform Beethoven's Eroica and make no mention of Napoleon.

All art is political. Some more explicitly so than others. And they scheduled a piece that was extremely political, and then got outraged at the politics of the piece being mentioned. It's absurd.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Apparently the MSO agrees that their performance is not a platform for political views.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The MSO is objectively wrong if they claim to believe that, not least because of what they literally chose to be on the programme of this very concert. (And their previous political statements vis à vis Ukraine, and the mere fact that they are a purveyor of the arts).

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago

It's their concert. Aren't they the authority on whether it's a platform for the personal views of the guy engaged to make pretty noises?