Pianist Jayson Gillham’s case against MSO mustn’t turn into ‘roving inquiry’ on Middle East conflict, judge warns

The judge hearing the case of a classical pianist who alleges the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra unlawfully discriminated against him because of his views on Israeli forces killing Palestianian journalists says the matter will not be a “roving inquiry” over conflict in the Middle East. Pianist Jayson Gillham is suing the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform on 15 August 2024, a cancellation which he claims was an attempt to silence him over his stance on the Gaza conflict. At a performance four days earlier in Southbank’s Iwaki Auditorium, Gillham had played a short piece called Witness, composed by Australian multimedia artist Connor D’Netto, which he dedicated to Palestinian journalists who were killed by Israeli forces. Introducing the work, the pianist addressed the audience, stating that more than 100 Palestinian journalists had been killed, and that the targeting of journalists in a conflict was a war crime under international law. The trial is set down for 15 days and started in the federal court in Melbourne on Monday. Justice Graeme Hill told the court before opening submissions in the trial that while he was aware the matter had attracted public controversy: “This is not a case about that public controversy, and I’m not going to let the case turn into a roving inquiry about that public controversy. …