{"id":678235,"date":"2026-05-18T08:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T08:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678235\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T08:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T08:23:11","slug":"trial-begins-pitting-pianist-jayson-gillham-against-melbourne-symphony-orchestra-over-his-gaza-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678235\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial begins, pitting pianist Jayson Gillham against Melbourne Symphony Orchestra over his Gaza comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concert pianist Jayson Gillham has denied he deliberately misled the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) about performing a piece dedicated to journalists killed in Gaza.<\/p>\n

It has been almost two years since Gillham played Witness, by composer Connor D’Netto, at an MSO concert. He introduced it onstage\u00a0with comments about Israel killing journalists.<\/p>\n

The pianist is suing the orchestra in the Federal Court for discrimination based on his political beliefs in a case that will test the limits of free speech in Australian workplaces.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Supporters of Jayson Gillham gather outside the Federal Court of Victoria on Monday. (AAP: Jay Kogler)<\/p>\n

Giving evidence on the opening day of a 15-day trial, the pianist agreed he had not told the orchestra or his agent about his intentions to play the piece.<\/p>\n

“I worried the MSO would not allow the performance, they would find an excuse,” he said.<\/p>\n

Gillham introduced the composition by saying Israel targeted journalists in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes.<\/p>\n

It prompted the orchestra to cancel another performance at the Melbourne Town Hall, citing safety concerns.<\/p>\n

Earlier today, the orchestra argued Gillham would have anticipated people would be upset by his comments, with management responding to the incident within minutes.<\/p>\n

The organisation had no warning about Gillham’s onstage comments and felt misled by him, MSO barrister Justin Bourke, KC, told the court in his opening address.<\/p>\n

“He knew he was overstepping the line. He knew he was going to make political statements about Gaza,” Mr Bourke said.<\/p>\n

Mr Gillham’s barrister, Sheryn Omeri, KC, said the case was fundamentally about the right to freedom of expression for workers and whether those rights could be limited by the implied terms of a contract.<\/p>\n

She said the pianist’s comments were lawful and audience members who did not want to listen to them could have left the Southbank venue.<\/p>\n

\"Jayson<\/p>\n

Mr Gillham is an internationally renowned pianist. (Supplied: Jayson Gillham)<\/p>\n

“There is no right not to hear things that make us uncomfortable, even very uncomfortable \u2026 there is a difference between feeling uncomfortable and feeling unsafe, and nothing [in] that speech would have made anyone feel unsafe,” Ms Omeri said.<\/p>\n

The orchestra received one written and two verbal complaints after the concert, followed by 487 complaints about its decision to cancel Mr Gillham’s next performance, the court heard.<\/p>\n

But Mr Bourke argued an unfettered right to free speech on the stage could have profound consequences, affecting ticket sales, sponsors and donors.<\/p>\n

It would ultimately be unworkable, especially if an artist wanted to speak on stage for an hour, he added.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The case is being heard in the Federal Court in Melbourne. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n

“We are entitled to have control over our own stage, especially when statements are going to be made that are highly controversial,” Mr Bourke said.<\/p>\n

Justice Graeme Hill encouraged lawyers on both sides of the dispute to limit their rhetoric about events in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Intergenerational conflicts in the region between Palestinians and Israelis escalated on October 7, 2023, when Hamas \u2014 a designated terrorist organisation in Australia and Western allies \u2014 launched an assault in southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people.<\/p>\n

Since then, more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health cited by the United Nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trial is expected to run for three weeks and the orchestra is expected to call about 20 witnesses.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Concert pianist Jayson Gillham has denied he deliberately misled the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) about performing a piece…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,1108,134,6898,326890,81734,93236],"class_list":["post-678235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-court","tag-entertainment","tag-gaza","tag-jayson-gillham","tag-melbourne-symphony-orchestra","tag-mso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}