Jayson Gillham issues ‘clarity’ statement
NewsThe UK-Australian pianist who was cancelled by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra after making unacceptable remarks on the Gaza situation has issued this clarification through his PR agency:
For clariy (sic), we are releasing the comments made by Jayson Gillham during his performance on Sunday, 11 August at Melbourne Town Hall, presented by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra:
During the concert, Mr Gillham introduced each work, including the world premiere of “Witness” by composer Conor D’Netto. With Mr D’Netto’s express permission, Mr Gillham provided context for the piece, referencing the tragic deaths of journalists in Gaza—a topic of significant personal importance to him. A full transcript of his comments is below:
Over the last 10 months, Israel has killed more than one hundred Palestinian journalists. 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. Mr Gillham is not making any further statement at this time.
Slippedisc analysis:
The issue of journalists killed in Gaza is heatedly contested. The named Gaza fatalities were, on the whole, local residents, some of whom worked either directly for Hamas or with Hamas consent, according to independent sources. A minority, the Israelis say, took an active part in the massacres of October 7. There is no conclusive evidence on either side to support Gillham’s contentious statement, which demonstrated his personal bias in the conflict.
Gillham wrote, in a recent social media post: ‘If you are friends with friends of Israel, you need new friends.’
The vast majority of the world’s Jews are – by family or personal links – ‘friends with friends of Israel.’ Gillham’s position is definedly antisemitic.
Every other Tom Dick and Harry is a politician on a crusade these days. When did this become a thing? And they’re all so boring!
Because the love of their professions are insufficient to sustain them and they have the ridiculous idea that they can effect political change through trivial behavior that they see as “activitism.” It’s stupid and it’s sad.
If you talked to any of these artists, you would know the reason is much deeper than that. Fundamentally it is wrong to stay silent when so many thousands of civilians are being slaughtered and governments are doing very little about it. Also: if you consider yourself knowledgable about concert pianists, you’d know that it’s normal to say a few sentences about the meaning behind a piece before performing. Often this meaning is political. It’s crazy that people pretend politics has always been absent from classical music performance.
Hear hear Norman, well said
I completely agree with the SD analysis.
Jayson Gillham is a lovely pianist- just listen to his performance of the Emperor Concerto at the 2006 Leeds Piano competition- immaculate & mature well beyond his years at the time. He’s quite entitled to his stance on political matters IMHO- didn’t Pollini once read out anti- Vietnam War manifesto to much criticism at the end of a recital in the US during the early 70’s?
I agree that Gilliam is entitled to express himself. But I also think that what he said was irresponsible. Criticising what someone says is not the same as censoring what they say.
Why is it irresponsible? Israel, condemned by the ICJ, is committing Genocide. Only ardent Zionists refute this. Acquinas said: “He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.”
Look, politics has existed since the dawn of humanity. Everyday, everywhere there is a war happening somewhere. It’s like choosing a religion really.
Therefore it’s best to adapt the old age proverb that I will continuously re-emphasise to the bone.
Music is music; politics are politics. End of story, goodbye, the end.
Then you fail to understand the history of music and its relationship to the times in which it was composed, from Mozart to Bob Dylan via Shostakovich and Beethoven. Music reflecting political viewpoints – however contentious – is definitely a thing!
I don’t dispute what you say. But once a composer has put notes on a page, it no longer belongs to them. It belongs to us: our reception, our memory, our experience.
And music is nothing more than a collection of soundwaves. And anything else attached to it, be it title, inspiration, is most ways irrelevant.
Yes, Smetana’s Ma Vlast was inspired by his homeland, and Debussy’s La Mer by the sea. But that’s because they say it is. We’d take it on the chin if they said these works are actually about peeling a potato.
Debussy’s La Mer is an ingenious piece of work, not because it’s called the sea, not because of any politics, but because it stands alone as a great piece of music.
And thus, full circle back to my point. Music is its own entity, and everything else can be separated from it. Including politics.
What you fail to understand is that music’s actual net effect on world politics is and always has been precisely zero, except in the minds of egomaniacal musicians and naive progressives who think they can change the world with their ‘compositions’. People make up their own minds about things.
What about the Singing Revolution in the Baltics?
Sorry, I disagree. Music is, among other things, an emanation of power. It’s unfortunate, but there we are. When a piece of music is performed, it is because someone with authority, influence, money or power has permitted or promoted it. Conversely, when a performance is banned, as happened here, it is often because someone disapprove of your opinions, as happened here.
An “emanation of power” is something one might do after a baked bean dinner. If it were anything more serious musicians wouldn’t be so poor.
The MSO banned the performance because it does not allow political statements from the stage – whatever they are.
Wonder if they “allowed” the requisite support of Ukraine when Russia invaded. “Political statements” were required then.
Exactly!
Glad this clarification was made- it clearly shows how radicalized he is. If he can’t keep his personal views out of his concerts then the MSO has every right to cancel his concerts. Here are their guiding principals: Guiding Principles
We listen to each other, and we listen to our audiences. We continuously tune in to build connections that bring joy and validation.
We create welcoming experiences that showcase the beauty and wonder of artistic craft. Innovative performances that elevate the moment and endure in the spirit.
We unite our individual strengths and celebrate our unifying love of music, fostering understanding and belonging.
Perhaps he should have read these.
I do support Norman’s point of view. In my opinion, Mr. Gillham’s statement really is too single sided. Without any reasonable observation of both sides of this terrible and never ending historical conflict, of wich is related already in the Holy Bible…
The targeting of a journalist regardless of who they are associated with is a crime under international law. IDF have all but confirmed they are doing as such and there is widespread concern in legal circles about this approach.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/25/grey-zone-how-hamas-linked-journalists-legitimate-targets?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Bravo, Mr. Gillham. I’m sorry that this accusation has been drummed up in these heated times and I hope that this passes quickly. I see that you’re speaking up for the powerless and the oppressed – something that artists have done through the ages. Please don’t back down.
Music is music; politics is politics; many of us readers would prefer them to remain separate. It’s disappointing then that a classical music blogger such as Slippedisc sees fit to shoehorn op-ed style unsourced political commentary (or ‘ranting’ as he might characterise it, if the shoe were on the other foot) on very much non-musical issues such as the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict into what is otherwise a perfectly adequate news article. Why be so patronising to your own audience? We are more than capable of critical engagement and making up our own minds.
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No, Mr. Lebrecht, it is your position that is antisemitic: associating Jews, as Jews (i.e., not as individuals who happen to be Jewish), with a genocidal state. That’s antisemitism of the worst sort.
Tom Suarez, as a fulltime, wellknown Palestinian propagandist, your logical contortions belongs to Orwell’s 1984.
I was brought up as an orthodox Jew. I have a PhD on the Holocaust. I am anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian. If you describe me and people like me (in JVP and Na’amod for example) as antisemitic then it is you who is the antisemite.
Please explain why being raised as an Orthodox Jew permanently indemnifies you from potentially being an anti-semite.
Another question, aside from using your “as a Jew” credentials to add credibility to anti-Zionism, what else do you do in life “as a Jew”?
This genocide business, would this be the genocide of the Jews that is written into the Hamas Charter calling for the killing of ALL Jews? By the way, the Jews have done a shit job at genocide given the population of Gaza increased substantially in the last ten years, do try reading the definition of “genocide” and stop being a prat!
If Israel wanted to engage in genocide it could have taken Gaza out in an hour. It has the technology.
But its prosecution of this offensive — a futile effort to wipe out specified individuals — is spectacularly and brutally inept, and has been massively, and perhaps criminally, costly to the innocent. Israel’s callousness in the face of that has repelled many who essentially support Israel most of the time.
It is more than high time Israel got shot of Netanyahu, the man who cannot flee fast enough or far enough from the word “peace” if the word “Palestine” is in the sentence.
It is, in fact, possible to denounce one genocidal policy without condoning another.
Glad we cleared that up.
— I am very familiar with the legal defiition of genocide (indeed have cited it in my writings). According to the legal definition used by, e.g., the Holocaust musem in Washington (at whose inauguration 44 years ago, btw, I performed), the nature of the Israeli state itself is genocidal, because it is based on Zionism. Gaza today differs from the 75 years’ business-as-usual only in the pace of the genocide.
— I’m no fan of the 2017 Hamas Charter, but your bit about it calling for the killing of Jews is an invention. It explicitly distinguishes that its concern is Zionism, not Jews, and that it has right to oppose an occupying power (and yes, Gaza remained occupied after the settlements were pulled).
— More to the point, Hamas is irrelevant. The actual injustice, to which the election of Hamas was a reaction, had been going on for 58 years before Hamas took power.
There are an awful lot of people who are not journalists, but instead social media propagandists who claim to be press. Many of such people claimed as deceased journalists due to bombing by the Gazans are just that. The one thing they are really good at is “woe is me” after the commit atrocious acts which demand a response. Sadly, they have trapped the ill informed in their web.
Thank you Jayson Gillham & Slipped Disc for this ‘clarity’ statement. Information is power – Much appreciated
“The vast majority of the world’s Jews are – by family or personal links – ‘friends with friends of Israel.’ Gillham’s position is definedly antisemitic.”
Might there be an ambiguity in “friend” here? A friend of Israel could mean (a) someone who supports Israel in whatever it does; (b) someone who supports the development of Israel as a permanent, peaceful and flourishing state. (a) and (b) are not the same. Jayson may have meant (a), not (b).
Excellent point. It continuously amazes me how seemingly liberal, openminded Jews conflate the Netanyahu regime with Israel itself.
I tend to see Netanyahu’s government as on a par with those of Orban, Erdogan, Modi, or Milei in Argentina – staunch nationalists with an authoritarian bent (though in their favor, they’re not waging brutal wars). OTOH, I see the country of Israel as encompassing many things, some good, some bad, some in between. Sometimes you can love a country and hate its policies – I suspect Jayson falls in that category.
It’s the age-old, or at least longtime, dilemma: criticism of Israel, a sovereign government whose track record is far from blameless, is equated with anti-Semitism. I have had this discussion time and again with Jewish friends. People who know full well that I am not anti-Semitic, but who are reluctant to agree with any comment that even trivially suggests Israel is less than perfect (as if any government were).
I accede completely to your Point B. But I get tired of seeing a thug like Netanyahu, who couldn’t get away from Oslo fast enough, and who by some accounts is as corrupt as they come, duck and weave and avoid any opportunity of brining this to an end. That goes double for Hamas, who would go a long way to ending it by the simple expedient of releasing the hostages, and who started this current conflict in the first place. But if they thought it would take this to get the world to finally pay some attention to the Palestinian cause, there may be a reason for that.
i’m definitely not a politician. but i think perhaps i have some practical sense. considering mr gillham’s stance, and his having lost a job, it can surely be replaced. how about some concerts in gaza to entertain the hamas monsters? i’m sure they’d be delighted to hear one his performances.
Lots of very Westernised opinions on the importance and power of music in a functioning society – music has and always has been an important and integral part of communication, storytelling, passing of information, rousing crowds, intimidating people and opposing ideas.
Music has always been political – why do crowds chant, protestors sing, why are musician/artists thrown in jail or killed in dictatorships both in the past and in modern history?
Musicians being “poor” and music being defunded by governments is not indicative of how influential music is and can be.
Very clear as to why the UK’s art scene is deteriorating – a lot of you see music and musicians as simply a source of chea, meaningless entertainment.
Clearly a flawed and biased review of Mr. Gillham. He is 100% correct in his assessment of war grimes committed by the Israeli government.
The idea that these remarks are anti-Semitic is absurd. That Israel is targetting journalists is barely a controversial view except amongst those ideologically predisposed to uncritically accept whatever propaganda is put out on behalf of the Israeli state.
I suggest some reading, going back a little way into this long history:
Alice Speri writing in The Intercept on 20, September 2022, ‘Israeli Forces Deliberately Killed Palestinian American Journalist, Report Shows’
https://theintercept.com/2022/09/20/shireen-abu-akleh-killing-israel/
The 22 September 2022 Forensic Architecture report, ‘Shireen Abu Akleh: The Extrajudicial Killing of a Journalist’
https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/shireen-abu-akleh-the-targeted-killing-of-a-journalist
The 9 May 2023 Committee to Protect Journalists report, ‘Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable’
https://cpj.org/reports/2023/05/deadly-pattern-20-journalists-died-by-israeli-military-fire-in-22-years-no-one-has-been-held-accountable/
Coverage of that report by Jonathan Shamir and Hagar Shezaf in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz from 9 May 2023, ‘Israel Has Not Prosecuted Anybody for the Killing of 20 Journalists, Report Finds’
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-05-09/ty-article/.premium/israel-has-not-prosecuted-anybody-for-the-killing-of-20-journalists-report-finds/00000187-f5a7-d3a6-a38f-ffff765a0000
Again in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on 9 May 2023, Robert Mahoney’s ‘Not Just Shireen Abu Akleh: Israel Is Judge and Jury When It Comes to Killing Journalists’
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-05-09/ty-article-opinion/.premium/not-just-shireen-abu-akleh-israel-is-judge-and-jury-when-it-comes-to-killing-journalists/00000187-ff9d-da4d-a5b7-ffff97930000
Lama Al-Arian’s 3 December 2023 New York Times article, ‘Over 60 Journalists Have Been Killed in the Israel-Gaza War. My Friend Was One’
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/opinion/journalists-killed-israel-gaza.html
Amnesty International’s 7 December 2023 statement, ‘Lebanon: Deadly Israeli attack on journalists must be investigated as a war crime’
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/lebanon-deadly-israeli-attack-on-journalists-must-be-investigated-as-a-war-crime/
A 22 December 2023 Reuters report, ‘Gaza war ‘most dangerous ever’ for journalists, says rights group’
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-war-most-dangerous-ever-journalists-says-rights-group-2023-12-21/
UN Human Rights Council experts on 1 February 2024, ‘Gaza: UN experts condemn killing and silencing of journalists’
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/gaza-un-experts-condemn-killing-and-silencing-journalists
Oliver Darcy’s 20 March 2024 CNN piece, ‘Questions mount over Israel’s killing of journalists covering the war on Hamas’
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/20/media/israel-journalists-killed-questions/index.html
Human Rights Watch, 29 March 2024 statement, ‘UN Report on Israeli Killing of Journalist in Lebanon’
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/29/un-report-israeli-killing-journalist-lebanon
Rami G Khouri’s 2 April 2024 Al Jazeera article, ‘Watching the watchdogs: Israel’s attacks on journalists are backfiring’
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/2/watching-the-watchdogs-israels-attacks-on-journalists-are
Reporters Without Borders on 10 May 2024, ‘Palestine: Impunity persists two years after the Israeli army’s murder of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’
https://rsf.org/en/palestine-impunity-persists-two-years-after-israeli-army-s-murder-al-jazeera-journalist-shireen-abu
The Committee to Protect Journalists, 16 August 2024, ‘Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza war
August 16, 2024’
https://cpj.org/2024/08/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/
And let’s finish this very very partial list with Chip Gibbons writing in The Nation yesterday, ‘More Than 100 Journalists Come Together With Their Fellow Journalists in Palestine and Against US Complicity in Their Killing’
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/israel-gaza-journalists-war-killing/
Since when is the journalists casualty count “heatedly contested”, and by whom? The tally began well before 7 Oct.
Slipped Disc reports the passing of the beloved concessionaire of the Podunk Symphony, but targeted killing of Palestinian journalists isnt cultural news.
Zionist also means different things to different people, in different contexts.
I’m a Zionist Israeli Jew. I know what “friends of Israel” means in summer 2024 and it’s not antisemitic.
You do tout every visit by a famous pianist to Israel. But that’s different!
Gillham’s position on Gaza is in no possible sense antisemitic.He is, on the other hand, a very mediocre pianist who has hugely boosted his profile this week.