{"id":384550,"date":"2025-08-30T07:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T07:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/384550\/"},"modified":"2025-08-30T07:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T07:22:09","slug":"melbourne-symphony-orchestra-performance-in-london-interrupted-by-pro-palestine-protestors-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/384550\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performance in London interrupted by pro-Palestine protestors | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pro-Palestine protesters have interrupted a performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) at the\u00a0BBC Proms in London<\/a>, accusing the organisation\u2019s management of silencing artists who have criticised Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, including claims the MSO \u201csilenced artists\u201d and \u201csilenced protest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Videos uploaded to social media of the protest show some members of the group carrying a sign with the \u201cJewish Artists for Palestine\u201d name and another reading \u201ccomplicit in genocide\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MSO has blood on its hands,\u201d one protester shouted during the interruption. \u201cYou silenced Jayson Gillham.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Jewish Artists for Palestine said \u201cwe reject Zionist funding, censorship and complicity in our cultural institutions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The MSO has been contacted for a response to the protest and the claims made.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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Shortly before his cancellation was announced, at a previous concert Gillham had played a short piece called Witness, composed by Australian multimedia artist Connor D\u2019Netto<\/a>, which was dedicated to journalists who had lost their lives in the Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n

While introducing the work, Gillham addressed the audience, stating more than 100 Palestinian journalists had been killed, and that the targeting of journalists in a conflict was a war crime under international law.<\/p>\n

In an email sent to patrons<\/a>, the MSO said Gillham would no longer perform on 15 August because of \u201ca series of introductory remarks\u201d made without MSO\u2019s \u201capproval\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MSO does not condone the use of our stage as a platform for expressing personal views\u201d, the email said, adding that Gillham\u2019s remarks had caused \u201cdistress\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s on-stage comments was \u201cnot and never has been about free speech\u201d.<\/p>\n

But MSO management also said it had made \u201can error\u201d in cancelling the performance, saying \u201cwe have been engaging constructively with Jayson and his management and are seeking to reschedule the concert\u201d.<\/p>\n

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On Friday, the interruption was met with booing by some sections of the crowd. The BBC, which broadcasts the performance, apologised for the disruption.<\/p>\n

The BBC spoke to one audience member, Angela Tanner, who said it took security \u201cquite a while\u201d to remove the protesters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole programme 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,\u201d she told the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement reported by the BBC<\/a>, the broadcaster said \u201cthere was a disturbance at tonight\u2019s Prom which meant the concert was paused for a few minutes and the live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 diverted to pre-recorded music\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incident was dealt with swiftly by the Royal Albert Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 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,\u201d the BBC spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

In May, the federal court ordered Gillham\u2019s case to proceed to trial, which is scheduled to begin on 1 December.<\/p>\n

Gillham was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestine protesters have interrupted a performance by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) at the\u00a0BBC Proms in London, accusing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-384550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115116516586502352","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}