May 20, 2026 — 3:35pmMelbourne Symphony Orchestra board member Martin Foley wanted to reinstate Jayson Gillham to stop the “reputation-shredding” fallout from cancelling the pianist’s concerts because of comments he made on stage about Gaza.Foley told the Federal Court there was intense pressure on the organisation after Gillham was stood down and he considered it unfortunate that the board had not been consulted earlier in the process.Jayson Gillham arriving at the Federal Court on Monday.Simon Schluter.The former minister said he raised reinstating the pianist’s performances at a board meeting on August 14 on the condition Gillham abide by certain conditions and release a joint statement.“I reinforced the view that it was unfortunate the board had not been brought in earlier and [given] the rapidly evolving reputation-shredding events that were underway, the MSO needed to change its position,” Foley said.“It was clearly a matter of making sure that hopefully there was an agreed position between the artist and the organisation as to a solution to the unwarranted and unhelpful attention the organisation was subjected to.“We had conflicting narratives and substantial attacks on the organisation publicly and bringing the two sides to a shared position struck me as a very sensible outcome to resolve the mess.”Former creative industries minister and now MSO co-deputy chair Martin Foley.Scott McNaughtonGillham is suing the MSO under the Fair Work Act for wrongful dismissal for expressing a political opinion. MSO is defending the claim, accusing Gillham of deliberately misleading them and not seeking prior permission to make any controversial political statements.In August 2024, he appeared at an MSO recital in Melbourne as a guest pianist, when he introduced a new piece of music, dedicating it to “more than 100 Palestinian journalists” killed in Gaza.He went on to say: “A number of these have been targeted assassinations of prominent journalists as they were travelling in marked press vehicles or wearing press jackets. The killing of journalists is a war crime in international law, and it is done in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world.”Called Witness, the work by local composer Connor D’Netto was written for those slain journalists and was a late inclusion in the event program. Between 150 and 200 people attended the recital.The MSO cancelled its next event at which Gillham was scheduled to perform, and released a statement saying his comments were not appropriate and “an intrusion of personal political views”.Foley was part of an MSO working group established in December 2023 to determine how the organisation should respond to events in Gaza and Israel. Asked on Wednesday what that group concluded, Foley said: “That the MSO should seek to hold a neutral position, one that puts the civilians as the key issue in that conflict.”Foley said the idea of reinstating Gillham was “difficult given what had evolved” and he believed a statement would have to be released explaining why the parties had come to the decision to move forward.“You would need one [a statement], you couldn’t just miraculously pivot,” he said.Foley said while the MSO had taken political positions in the past, it was always done on a long-held “no surprises” principle.The hearing continues.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.From our partners