Judge urges Melbourne orchestra and pianist to resolve case over Gaza comments without him

A judge has urged the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and an acclaimed pianist to resolve a court case over Gaza comments between themselves.

Jayson Gillham is suing the MSO for workplace discrimination after it cancelled his next performance citing a statement he made during a 2024 concert, where he said Israel had killed more than 100 Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

Justice Graeme Hill adjourned the case on Friday after a three-week trial, saying it would be in the two sides should resolve the matter "without me having to say the things I need to say in a judgement".

The court has heard evidence from almost two dozen witnesses including Gillham and former senior executives of the MSO.

"I know there's been two attempts to resolve it already which were unsuccessful," he said, adding that while he usually makes judgements "pretty quickly", this was "not that sort of case".

"I'm afraid it might take me some time to go through everything and work out the right answer," but this gave both sides "more time to think about" reaching a "negotiated settlement rather than a judgement from me".

The case centres around a short introduction that British-Australian pianist Gillham read out during a performance in Melbourne on 11 August 2024. He said more than 100 Palestinian journalists had been killed by Israel since October 2023 when the war in Gaza began.

Gillham said Israel was carrying out "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 prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world," he told the audience of about 150 people during the Sunday morning concert.

In its most recent update, the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent organisation that promotes press freedom, reports that 206 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.

Gillham's comments attracted three complaints and prompted the MSO to cancel an upcoming performance by him on 15 August 2024.

That decision prompted almost 500 complaints, with the MSO cancelling the entire concert due to safety concerns.

The MSO said it had made an "error" in cancelling the show and said it was trying to reschedule the performance but Gilham sued the organisation in late 2024, saying it had rejected "reasonable requests to remedy the situation".

In an email to patrons at the time, the MSO had said they were blindsided by Gillham's comments and he had put them in a "difficult situation".

"The MSO does not condone the use of our stage as a platform for expressing personal views", it added.

Gillham's lawyers argue that it was his workplace right to express his political belief, which is a protected right in the state of Victoria, and that an employer cannot mistreat an employee because of that belief.

On the first day of the trial, Gillham said that following the public backlash after his performance was cancelled, the MSO had asked if he would come back for the second show but only on the condition that he would not say anything on stage.

In her closing statements on Friday, Gillham's barrister Sheryn Omeri said the MSO's decision to cancel Gillham's show and then ask him to come back was "insulting".

In response, MSO's barrister Justin Bourke KC said the matter was a "highly pressured situation".

"You can't ignore that it was a highly controversial statement made in a setting where this was the biggest issue in the world," Bourke said.