Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s decision to cancel upcoming concerts featuring the Australian-British pianist Jayson Gillham has drawn criticism from The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, which has today released a statement saying it is “disturbed at the news that a musician has been sanctioned for simply voicing a personal view about the human tragedy that continues to unfold in Palestine.”

Jayson Gillham at a recent UK concert raising money for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Photo © Abhishek Kodaganallur Pichumani

At a recital performance on 11 August at Iwaki Auditorium, Gillham gave the world premiere performance of Connor D’Netto’s Witness as an unannounced addition to the program that the MSO confirmed it had granted permission for.

Written for Gillham, Witness is dedicated to the journalists killed in the ongoing Gaza conflict.

In his introduction, Gillham said:

“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...