Melbourne shuns a pianist’s absurd demands
NewsThe UK-Australian pianist Jayson Gillham provoked a crisis at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra by making a contentious political statement about the Middle East. Gillhamas was removed from his next scheduled appearance and the ensuing furore resulted in the sacking of the MSO’s contentious MD, Sophie Galaise.
The orchestra then tried to make good any harm it may have done to the headstrong pianist.
Gillham presented a list of demands.
He wants: a public apology from the MSO; an affirmation of artists’ rights to speak freely; compensation for alleged reputational damage caused by his cancellation; future performance opportunities to repair his professional standing; a commission of a piano concerto by a Palestinian composer; and a donation to the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine.
The MSO have told him to go whistle.
No further talks are scheduled.
It seems to me that in case there is a composer around of Palestinian descent, somewhere, who does NOT support the murderous terrorist gang of hamas, and who knows that Edward Said was a very unreliable source of understanding of Eastern cultures, then some institution or ensemble should give him a commission to show that music is NOT a political tool.
Bravo.
Or, give HER a commission!
Mr. Gillham just entered the realm of “more trouble than you are worth.” It is possible the controversy, which springs from MSO’s ambiguous response to criticism, earns him an apology. The rest is blatant cash-in-ery. Makes him look like a vulgar little oik.
Who has heard of him outside the Victorian gulag?!!
Here’s the real question to ask him:
You’re offered to give a recital of works of your choice: As your audience would you choose Hamas or Israel Parliament?
This pianist might want to reflect on the massacre Hamas committed at a concert on October 7–it was at a concert.
Hamas is holding captive the Palestinians, and it really is only
Israel doing anything to rid the world of Hamas. It is possible to support both Israelis and the Palestinians; Hamas is the evil Israel is fighting—Hamas, the terrorist organization that hides behind innocents, that rapes babies, that couldn’t care less about LGBTQIAA+.
Jayson W. currently lives with a gentleman friend in London. He should try doing that in an independent Palestine.
Even that is a fact, it doesn’t follow that what he said was inaccurate or in defensible. It *may* be inaccurate or indefensible, but even if it is, that isn’t settled by his domestic arrangements, nor even the moue I somehow visualise accompanying your use of “gentleman friend”.
Gay man supports Hamas.
Why doesn’t he go to Gaza and see how they treat him there?
Or is it a classic case of someone self-indulgently whining from a position of privilege and ignorance?
Perhaps he doesn’t derive his moral and political views wholly from what best serves his own private interests. Amazingly, there are such people.
That is a more than stupid comment. What are his views on throwing gay men off roof tops ?
It is not stupid at all. There is no inconsistency in holding both (1) It is evil, that some followers of Islam kill gay men; (2) indiscriminate killing of Moslems is evil.
Being against the killing of gay men by some Moslems does not commit you to thinking it OK that Moslem children die.
You’re too ready to think of morality in terms of our lot and the other lot.
That would be immensely admirable, I agree. In which case one wonders why he doesn’t express an ounce of sympathy for the 1200 Israeli civilians killed by Hamas.
There are probably lots of other awful acts or situations he hasn’t expressed disapproval of. That doesn’t mean that what he said was wrong or indicative of anti-semitism.
Totally agree. But when a person argues in a monomaniacal way that an entire ethnicity has no right to self-determination after two thousand years of massacres, that an indigenous proposal for recognition is a ‘zionist scam’, denies mass rape and reposts pro-Russian conspiracy theories, I’m quite happy to say that this person is an extremist acting in bad faith.
The very thing you are accusing some here of doing is precisely what this pianist has done (and, ironically, what the Israeli far right are doing) – ‘me good/them bad.’
hear hear! some common sense! I too am anti-Bibi, pro-Palestinian, and pro-peace!
to compare terrorists to even a right-wing government is absurd. Let’s just consider how Hamas would treat Mr Gillhamas and husband compared to how they’d be treated in the right-wing led government of Tel-Aviv.
none of these woke virtue signallers have written a word of remorse for the murdered hostages yesterday… not cool at school these days to mourn a Jew?
It’s always the noisy, vituperative Left. There are plenty who feel the opposite and who are quiet. We’ll hear from them in November.
You can only express remorse for what *you* have done. I can’t be remorseful about your crimes.
I’d be interfested in any of the down-tickers could explain how it’s possible for me to be remorseful about what you have done. Do they know what remorse is?
Hamas are not representative of all Palestinians. Judaism is not Zionism. Take a look at the protests in Israel today. No one abhors Hamas more than I but Israel is guilty of collective punishment.
love your name Donny.
zionism is the belief in a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people which is why the vast majority of Jews are zionist. At the same time it doesn’t mean they support their current right-wing government (which I like many abhor). If you don’t like Trump it doesn’t mean you need to scream ‘boycott the USA’.
I think you will find that “ordinary Palestinians” were out on the streets celebrating after the announcement by Hamas what they had done. Ordinary Palestinians have been educating their children for years to hate, revile and exterminate Jews. Do have a look at the Hamas Charter which most Palestinians sign up to given that they have supported Hamas since the so called election in 2005. As regards your comment about “collective punishment”, just what the hell was Hamas doing when they invaded Israel and massacred civilians including women and children. Your sanctimony is deafening!
Surveys done by Palestinians themselves
(the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR)) indicate that about 80% of Palestinians support what Hamas did on October 07.
Well, that truly fucks up the constant cry of “innocent Palestinians” from all the lefties and virtue signallers. As an avowed atheist I cannot but quote that old biblical saying “whatever you sow, so shall you reap”, perhaps someone could explain this to all those “innocent” Palestinians!
Well, you don’t get anything if you don’t ask.
He and his husband will not last a day even in non-Hamas west bank. The “progressive” palestinians torture and kill gay men.
But you’d have to have the emotional intelligence to understand that. What if you don’t??
Perhaps he *does* have the emotional intelligence to understand it, but is one of those nice people whose morality is not wholly dictated by their private interests or advantage.
What a prat.
I’ve never heard of this pianist. I suppose he’s a “good pianist” who you could listen to in a concert and generally enjoy; but shake a tree and a thousand of those will fall out. However, the kind of antisemitic blood-libelling vitriol he and his kind have been spouting since October 7, antisemitism which was always there and was just waiting for an excuse to pour forth and infect the world, is something I refuse to accept from anyone, including the greatest artists, e.g. Barenboim (the elder, let alone his pathetic son). This attention-seeking little twerp, Gillham, or whatever his name is, isn’t worth a second’s attention. But I am giving him more than that, because he’s a symptom of something much bigger and more alarming – the unprecedented (even compared to a century ago) wave of antisemitism now unashamedly appearing everywhere, and coming mainly from leftist circles.
Well, if you think Daniel Barenboim is anti-Semitic, you are operating with very dodgy parameters.
Not dodgy parameters at all. Let me double down – anyone not firmly on Israel’s side after October 7 is an antisemite. Period. And if they’re Jewish, they are worse, they are traitors to their people (assuming indeed they are Jewish in any meaningful sense). Those types are exactly akin to Jewish people during WWII supporting the Nazis. The only differences between then and now are that antisemitism is much more prevalent and legitimized today, and that today the Jews can defend themselves, both things perhaps interconnected.
Gosh Nathaniel, any Jews with opinions differing from your own hard-line take had better watch out – Your antisemitism is showing………
I hesitate whether it’s worth replying to your comment. However, just so you know, I was a rather extreme left-wing Israeli for most of my not-so-short life. In 1982 I was one of the at-least 200,000 Israelis (about 5% of the country’s population back then) who protested the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Even in the last election I voted Meretz. I published op-eds in Israel criticizing the Israeli right-wingers. And I spent much of 2023 before October 7 protesting against Netanyahu and his government. But enough is enough, and since October 7, I no longer support the peace process, and I’m far from alone. The Palestinians have killed, literally, any chance for peace for generations to come. So, what have you done for peace except being a keyboard warrior living someplace safe thousands of miles away? (And I apologize in advance if you’re from Israel). Talk is cheap.
Yes, I am a proud Jew supportive of Israel’s right to exist. But this binary thinking is nonsense.
May I suggest to arrange for him a recital in Gaza? I am sure he will find attentive audience there in one of the underground terror tunnels. He might even chose to stay.
I would sponsor that concert if he wore a gay pride flag – even in the West Bank.
Apparently adherents of Islam aren’t allowed to listen to music. That explains why so few Muslim children are taking piano lessons.
The MSO should stick to accompanying pop stars.
He must have studied diplomacy with Ivo Pogorelich.
Has Pogorelich addressed the war in Gaza? I haven’t found anything.
Of course, he could have quietly donated to any number of causes.
But something tells me that that wouldn’t have had quite the ‘effect’ that he wanted.
Narcissism masquerading as activism is sad.
In the midst of a terrible war, it is a strange impulse to want to put yourself at the ‘fore’.
So he wants rights to speak freely but mandates their speech to a public apology. Sounds reasonable.
Anyone who has any doubts about Gilllham’s desire for peace or justice should look at his twitter account.
It includes reposting of pro-Russia misinformation sources, calling ‘the voice’ (a constitutional referendum to give Australian indigenous folks a voice in parliament) a ‘zionist scam’, denial of rape on October 7 and much, much more…the list goes on.
And naturally he has grown up in Australia, on stolen land.
Slight correction, Aaron: The Voice was a proposal to give indigenous Australians a voice in *government*, which would have meant special access to the Federal ministry of the day. There are presently eleven indigenous members of parliament in Canberra, three in the House of Representatives and eight in the Senate.
Thank you 🙂
I should clarify: *retweeting* of those calling the voice a Zionist Scam.
Re.: “… compensation for alleged reputational damage caused by his cancellation…”
He is probably going to compensate himself with some ice cream.
Good.
Meanwhile Sophie Galaise is thinking about using the MSO for unfair dismissal. Quite a few of us Down Under are enjoying the spectacle.
Imagine?! The Middle East, a hotbed of tension for centuries, the subject of debate for the smartest people in the world from Levinas to Said, now solved by a milquetoast concert pianist who can see everything in perfectly binary terms. If only I had known all this time it was that simple.
“If only I had known all this time it was that simple.”
Every action that anyone has taken in the situation might deserve that comment. If any action at all is taken, it may have to be blinkered to some of the complexity.
Actually, I have found quite the opposite. Most people I have met, who are not extreme in their views, whether hard left or right (to the extent that there is even a difference anymore) and using this tragedy for other more concerning and even hateful purposes are quite prepared to live with ambiguity. I believe it is quite possible not to engage in collective punishment whatsoever, whether Palestinian or Jew and to resist the empty lure of social media slogans, moral posturing and team building.
I take it he made a similar protest after the massacre 1,200 Jews by his Hamas comrades.
Fact: There is no such place as Palestine, nor has there ever been.
Fact: Israel has been the home of Jews for thousands of years, and talk of “Palestinian land being stolen” is just a lie.
Fact: The so called innocent Gaza dwellers were happy to celebrate Hamas’ attrocities in the streets on Oct 7th.
Fact: Hamas terrorists did not suddenly land from outer space. They are the sons, brothers, fathers of those so-called innocent gaza dwellers.