Pro-Palestine protesters have interrupted a performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (at the BBC Proms in London, accusing the organisation’s management of silencing artists who have criticised Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
The Jewish Artists for Palestine group interrupted the performance for more than 10 minutes on Friday night, with some members shouting from the upper stalls of Royal Albert Hall, including claims the MSO “silenced artists” and “silenced protest”.
Videos uploaded to social media show some members of the group carrying a sign with the “Jewish Artists for Palestine” name and another reading “complicit in genocide”.
“The MSO has blood on its hands,” one protester shouted during the interruption. “You silenced Jayson Gillham.”
In a statement, the Jewish Artists for Palestine said: “We reject Zionist funding, censorship and complicity in our cultural institutions.”
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An MSO spokesperson said the London performance was “the culmination of the MSO’s successful tour of Europe” and that musicians had delivered “a world-class performance at one of the world’s great music venues”.
“We are proud of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the resilience and professionalism demonstrated in its performance in London,” the spokesperson said.
The protests comes as Gillham, an acclaimed pianist, is suing the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform at on 15 August 2024. Gillham claims the event was cancelled in an attempt to silence him over his stance on the crisis in Gaza.
In a statement after Friday night’s performance, Gillham said while he felt for “my friends and colleagues in the orchestra that had to endure this having played no part in my cancellation, the protest does highlight that the MSO brand has taken a nosedive globally because of the actions of its management in cancelling me just over one year ago”.
“Silencing someone who wants to bring awareness to injustice and honour brave Palestinians resisting their own genocide is unpopular with artists everywhere. Artists do not want to be forced into silence on Palestine in order to get work and maintain a career in this industry.
“The MSO can work to rectify this by affirming that artists can and always have spoken on issues of conscience and have a right to do so on stage.”
The cancellation of Gillham’s performance came after a concert in which he played a short piece called Witness, composed by the Australian multimedia artist Connor D’Netto, which was dedicated to journalists who had lost their lives in the Gaza conflict.
While introducing the work, Gillham addressed the audience, saying more than 100 Palestinian journalists had been killed and that the targeting of journalists in a conflict was a war crime under international law.
In an email sent to patrons, the MSO said Gillham would no longer perform on 15 August because of “a series of introductory remarks” made without MSO’s “approval”.
“The MSO does not condone the use of our stage as a platform for expressing personal views,” the email said, adding that Gillham’s remarks had caused “distress”.
The MSO subsequently issued a statement denying Gillham had been discriminated against because of his political views, saying the action management took in response to the artist’s on-stage comments was “not and never has been about free speech”.
But MSO management also said it had made “an error” in cancelling the performance, saying “we have been engaging constructively with Jayson and his management and are seeking to reschedule the concert”.
On Friday the interruption was met with booing by some sections of the crowd. The BBC, which broadcasts the performance, apologised for the disruption.
The BBC spoke to one audience member, Angela Tanner, who said it had taken security “quite a while” to remove the protesters.
“The whole program had to start again and has been put into a different order after the piano was put on to the stage and taken off again,” she told the BBC.
In a statement reported by the BBC, the broadcaster said “there was a disturbance at tonight’s Prom which meant the concert was paused for a few minutes and the live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 diverted to pre-recorded music”.
“The incident was dealt with swiftly by the Royal Albert Hall.
“Our priority is always the safety and wellbeing of everyone who attends the BBC Proms, and we would like to thank our staff and the performers whose response helped keep disruption to a minimum,” the BBC spokesperson said.
In May the federal court ordered Gillham’s case to proceed to trial, which is scheduled to begin on 1 December.
