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A Gaza pianist melodrama · The Front

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  Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart sneaker
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  Speaker 1: every morning to hear the latest episode. Just say play
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  Speaker 1: the news from the Australian. From the Australian, keears what's
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  Speaker 1: on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Tuesday, September three.
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  Speaker 1: Brittaney Higgins, barrister has accused Senator Linda Reynolds of siding
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  Speaker 1: with an accused rapist and harassing a young woman who
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  Speaker 1: had just tried to make Parliament a safer place to work.
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  Speaker 1: That's in closing addresses in a defamation trial between Reynolds
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  Speaker 1: and her former staff member. Reynolds accuses Higgins and her husband,
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  Speaker 1: David Scharaz of deliberately setting out to destroy her reputation.
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  Speaker 1: There's a feud between the Albaneze government and the Reserve Bank.
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  Speaker 1: First Treasurer Jim Chalmers said interest rates were smashing the
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  Speaker 1: economy and now Minister Matt Thistlethwaite has warned the bank
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  Speaker 1: not to go too far, but the government says they're
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  Speaker 1: not trying to pressure the RBA. All the details alive
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot Com. A concert pianists are
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  Speaker 1: supposed to bring the drama, and boy did Jason Gillham
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  Speaker 1: deliver for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which is facing legal
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  Speaker 1: threats from all directions over its handling of Gillem's decision
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  Speaker 1: to make a pro Palestine statement on stage. In today's
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  Speaker 1: story Why, the Orchestra's boss says she's been hung out
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  Speaker 1: to drive. On a dark Sunday winter night in Melbourne,
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  Speaker 1: in an intimate auditorium, a modest crowd just over one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty people are listening to a piano performance.
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  Speaker 1: The artist is Jason Gillham, a concert pianist in his
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  Speaker 1: late thirties who arose from obscurity in country Queensland to
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  Speaker 1: be celebrated around the world, particularly for his renditions of Beethoven.
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  Speaker 1: And then Gilliam stands and introduces a piece that wasn't
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  Speaker 1: on the advertised program, a work called Witness. Gilm tells
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  Speaker 1: the audience it's in honor of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza.
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  Speaker 2: What Jason Gillim did was he spoke to the piece.
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  Speaker 2: The piece was a late inclusion in the performance, and
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  Speaker 2: he spoke to it by saying more than hundred journalists
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  Speaker 2: had been killed in Gaza. He claimed that some had
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  Speaker 2: been targeted assassinations by the Israelis, which of course would
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  Speaker 2: be a war crime, and so he spoke to that
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  Speaker 2: and then he played the piece. And the issue here
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  Speaker 2: was that, obviously around Australia people have very different opinions
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  Speaker 2: on Israel Hamas conflict in Gaza, and so for him
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  Speaker 2: to say that on the concert stage offended some people
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  Speaker 2: in the audience who thought they just came along for
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  Speaker 2: a concert and didn't want to be fed someone's opinion
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  Speaker 2: on the Gaza conflict. And that's where the controversy started.
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  Speaker 1: And wow, has it been a controversy. This simple moment
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  Speaker 1: before a microscopic audience, by comparison to the international concert
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  Speaker 1: halls where the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra often performs, has left
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  Speaker 1: the orchestra's reputation broken. They tried to fix it one way,
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  Speaker 1: then fix it another way, and nothing has worked and
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  Speaker 1: now everyone's lawyered up and nobody's giving an inch.
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  Speaker 2: The MSO is the oldest orchestra in Australia, Claire, and
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  Speaker 2: it really is a part of the cultural fabric of Melbourne.
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  Speaker 2: It's very famous. It tours the world enormously high quality.
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  Speaker 2: It really is one of Melbourne's most loved institutions, frankly,
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  Speaker 2: and to see it now embroiled in such a very
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  Speaker 2: vicious controversy is quite extraordinary.
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  Speaker 1: And the thing is as other arts companies have found
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  Speaker 1: themselves dragged by the ankles into the dark waters of drama.
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  Speaker 1: Since Harmas's attack on Israel on October seven, the MSO
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  Speaker 1: had really thought about how it could stay out of it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the MSO saw those complaints and what happened. To
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  Speaker 2: go back a bit in December last year, the MSO
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  Speaker 2: had had quite a few series of meetings saying what's
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  Speaker 2: going to be the orchestra's position on the conflict in Gaza.
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  Speaker 2: The orchestra actually in the past has supported some political issues.
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  Speaker 2: It supported the Yes THO for the Voice referendum. It
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  Speaker 2: supported gay marriage during that controversy, So the orchestra sometimes
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  Speaker 2: does take positions. This time, the orchestra decided, the management
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  Speaker 2: of the MSO decided, we're not going to take a
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  Speaker 2: position on Gaza. We have Jewish employees, we have Muslim employees.
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  Speaker 2: It's too divisive. We'll just be neutral, and they sent
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  Speaker 2: that statement out to the subscribers. They also told musicians
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  Speaker 2: representatives about it, so they did have a clear position
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  Speaker 2: of neutrality.
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  Speaker 1: themSo had watched as a similar drama engulfed the Sydney
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  Speaker 1: Theater Company earlier this year, when actors decided to make
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  Speaker 1: personal statements by wearing kefeirs, the traditional scarf of Palestine,
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  Speaker 1: on stage. That sparked complaints from some members of the audience,
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  Speaker 1: including members and allies of the Jewish community and those
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  Speaker 1: who just didn't like the stage being used for a
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  Speaker 1: political statement. The MSO was also worried about the reaction
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  Speaker 1: of audiences and benefactors, including some Jewish donors, and alarmed
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  Speaker 1: that Gillan was due to play again just four days later, and.
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  Speaker 2: They decided the best thing, the safest path, was to
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  Speaker 2: actually send a letter of apology to the people in
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  Speaker 2: the audience, sorry that these political views were aired, and
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  Speaker 2: that the pianist would not be appearing in the concert
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  Speaker 2: on Thursday.
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  Speaker 1: How did Jason Gillim react, Well, you can probably guess.
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  Speaker 2: Jason Gillen was very upset by that. He thought it
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  Speaker 2: was unfair, He thought it was a denial of his
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  Speaker 2: rights of artistic expression. He was backed by the pro
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  Speaker 2: Palestinian community, by activists who really sent a lot of
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  Speaker 2: fairly savage messages to the MSO critical of the organization
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  Speaker 2: and the union that represents the musicians. The Media and
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  Speaker 2: Entertainment Arts Alliance also put out a statement saying that
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  Speaker 2: it was very disappointed in the behavior of THESA. The
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  Speaker 2: MISO suddenly found itself clear in the crosshairs I guess
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  Speaker 2: of the Pro Palestinian movement.
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  Speaker 1: So that was management's call. But the next day the
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  Speaker 1: board members, who claim they hadn't been consulted crisis managers.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the external consultants, actually advised for the MSO to
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  Speaker 2: do a backflip. They were concerned that to not do
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  Speaker 2: that would leave the next MSO concert and perhaps even
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  Speaker 2: future ones at the mercy of pro Palestinian activists, and
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  Speaker 2: I guess they had visions of audience members walking through
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  Speaker 2: protests to get to the concert. But of course a
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  Speaker 2: backflip would also engulf the organization in more controversy and
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  Speaker 2: annoy the Jewish community, amongst others. And so what actually
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  Speaker 2: happened was the next day the board they tried to
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  Speaker 2: get the pianists to perform on the Thursday. He said no,
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  Speaker 2: and then they canceled the concert entirely for security reasons,
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  Speaker 2: but also most importantly quit out a statement saying that
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  Speaker 2: his cancelation was done in error. And so there you go.
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  Speaker 2: After just a few days, the MSO had annoyed everyone
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  Speaker 2: on every side, and it also had a spectacular rift
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  Speaker 2: between the management team. The management team is seven strong, Claire,
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  Speaker 2: and it was a unanimous decision to agree to cancel
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  Speaker 2: the pianist. The board, which is eleven members, came back
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  Speaker 2: and totally overruled that decision. So what an extraordinary rift
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  Speaker 2: in the middle of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
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  Speaker 1: Oh did you think this was the end? Not by
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  Speaker 1: a long shot. We'll be back after this break with
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  Speaker 1: the woman who lost her job in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: all this drama. The best coverage of the arts, from
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  Speaker 1: reviews to profiles and the juiciest news, is always at
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  Speaker 1: the Australian dot com dot au. Join our subscribers to
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  Speaker 1: make sure you've got all sides of the story. We'll
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  Speaker 1: be back after this break.
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  Speaker 3: The MSO is a great orchestra. It's a large organization
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  Speaker 3: with about five hundred people.
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  Speaker 1: This is Sophie Galay's She was the managing director of
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  Speaker 1: the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
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  Speaker 3: They're entitled to their opinion, and actually artists are usually
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  Speaker 3: very sensitive in our strong opinion. But because of that,
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  Speaker 3: we have decided that we wouldn't discuss women their opinions,
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  Speaker 3: and we've tried to provide for our audience a safe haven,
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  Speaker 3: a platform where one can hear futreful music, where one
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  Speaker 3: can be at peace and enjoy a wonderful evening.
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  Speaker 1: Sophie Galays had led the response to the Jason Gillium situation,
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  Speaker 1: but in August the board told her she was sacked.
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  Speaker 2: It was reported that she resigned. She hadn't resigned. She
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  Speaker 2: said she was terminated, and now she's exploring her legal options. Claim.
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  Speaker 3: I believe it's been unfair of my job. I've lost
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  Speaker 3: it and my repetation is in touters and now I
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  Speaker 3: will have I believe quite a difficult time finding work
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  Speaker 3: in the world of music, the world I love.
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  Speaker 1: Sophie Glask says she's also been the target of abuse
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  Speaker 1: online by people taking Jason Gillim's side.
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  Speaker 3: I was violently priticized for being a woman, for having
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  Speaker 3: short hair, about my accent, and terrible words were used
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  Speaker 3: against me. I feel like praticularly.
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  Speaker 2: Gott it, so in fact, who've got a strange situation
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  Speaker 2: now where the MSO has toughened us rhetoric against Jason
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  Speaker 2: Gillum to the point where it looks very much like
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  Speaker 2: the original position that Sophie Delay is the sacked managing
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  Speaker 2: director took on the first day. So it's a mess
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  Speaker 2: that will require further unraveling up think Claire.
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  Speaker 1: Ever since her mass fighters attacked Israeli civilians on October
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  Speaker 1: seven and Israel's military began pounding Gaza shortly after, Cam
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  Speaker 1: and our reporters of The Australian have been covering the
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  Speaker 1: fallout around the world. So what does this moment tell us?
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  Speaker 2: The tentacles of this conflict over in the Middle East
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  Speaker 2: are gone into almost every aspect of Australian society. Should
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  Speaker 2: performers get on stage and speak their political views to
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  Speaker 2: patrons who are coming to watch a performance which has
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  Speaker 2: nothing to do with politics. That's really the nub of
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  Speaker 2: the debate, and the fact that we see so much
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  Speaker 2: passion on both sides here, I think just reflects the
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  Speaker 2: fact that this is such a potent and devisive issue
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  Speaker 2: across Australian society.
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  Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is the Australian's Chief International correspondent. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us on the front. We'll be back right here tomorrow.