Peter Garrett to conduct review into cancelled concert

Former Labor politician Peter Garrett will lead a review of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
(James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)

By Rachael Ward in Melbourne

Former arts minister and musician Peter Garrett will lead an investigation into the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s removal of a pianist from a concert as the organisation’s managing director departs.

Acclaimed pianist Jayson Gillham was due to participate in a concert at the Melbourne Town Hall earlier in August but was asked to step aside after performing a solo “dedicated to the journalists of Gaza” at a different event.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) said removing the Australian-British performer was an error and it had cancelled the entire performance over safety concerns.

Musicians requested an independent investigation into the incident and the orchestra’s leadership as they submitted a vote of no confidence to the board.

The orchestra on Monday announced managing director Sophie Galaise had left the organisation after eight years.

Orchestral leader Richard Wigley will immediately step in as a strategic advisor leading the management team in the wake of Ms Galaise’s departure.

“We recognise the recent pressures on our people and management and are comforted that a person of Richard’s capability can step in immediately to help ensure the MSO functions effectively through this review,” the board said in a statement.

Mr Wigley said he had previously been involved in rebuilding orchestras “after precarious phases in their histories”.

“A period of careful listening, considered discussion, sound judgement and implementation of appropriate changes is what comes next,” he said.

“I am confident that from difficult times comes fresh creative energies and sustained resilience.”

Pianist Jayson Gillham. Photo courtesy The Age

The orchestra also revealed Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett would lead an external, independent review with the assistance of KPMG Australia consultants.

The review will examine MSO’s policies, procedures and protocols including freedom of speech and artistic expression on stage.

The orchestra’s board said Mr Garrett’s review was needed to restore confidence in the organisation, adding the past few weeks had been a difficult experience for many people.

“There is a clear understanding that we need to learn from these events to ensure the MSO is best positioned to continue offering world-class cultural experiences for our valued audiences,” the board said.

“The appointment of Peter, supported by KPMG, will provide confidence to our musicians, our people and wider community that we are serious about the process.”

Mr Garrett said his review could serve a broader purpose for others who would inevitably face similar challenges.

“Performing arts organisations are facing complex issues around freedom of expression whilst maintaining long-term sustainability in a dynamic and increasingly highly charged environment,” he said.

The board said it was committed to sharing details about the review when they were finalised.

First published by Australian Associated Press at Canberra City News website, August 26, 2024

ONE RESPONSE TO PETER GARRETT TO CONDUCT REVIEW INTO CANCELLED CONCERT

Tony Magee says: 27 August 2024 at 12:09 pm

A spokesperson for the MSO has announced: “We maintain that a concert platform is not an appropriate stage for political comment, but we acknowledge Jayson's concerns for those in the Middle East and elsewhere." Well, here are 8 notable examples over the years, where music and performance were effectively used for political comment in astounding ways. 

In 1803, Beethoven dedicated his Symphony No. 3 to Napoleon. After his friend Ferdinand Ries told Beethoven that Napoleon had declared himself Emperor, Beethoven flew into a rage and tore up the first page of the Symphony, which included the written dedication, exclaiming “Now Napoleon will tread under foot all the rights of man, indulge only his ambition, think himself superior to us all, and become a tyrant!" Beethoven re-wrote the first page, leaving out the Napoleonic dedication and simply entitled it “Symphony Eroica”. 

In 1940, English pianist Dame Myra Hess devised a daily weekday lunchtime concert program to raise British moral during World War II. The evening concert venues were all blacked out at night and couldn’t be used. But, Winston Churchill had removed all artworks from the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, having them stored in underground safety bunkers for preservation. Hess set up the now vacant Gallery as a concert hall and engaged world class musicians to perform. Each artist was paid five guineas no matter who they were. Hess insisted that the concert programs must include music by German composers, particularly Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. The concerts, numbering 1,968, proceeded Monday to Friday without fail for the duration of the war. Hess personally played in 150 of them. 

In Berlin during 1944, German pianist Walter Gieseking recorded Beethoven’s Emperor piano concerto (No. 5) with the Radio Orchestra of Berlin conducted by Artur Rother. It was a live broadcast. 16 minutes into the performance came a British bombing raid. On the CD reissue, one can clearly hear the sound of German anti-aircraft fire. The option was obviously there to abandon the broadcast and flee. Instead, the musicians defiantly proceeded to completion and in my view, this is the finest version, interpretively, of that concerto. 

In 1962, The Soviet Union and the American recording company Mercury collaborated on a major recording project, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture in the USSR. The Russians wanted to capture their outstanding Osipov State Balalaika Orchestra in the best possible fidelity available, also with the relatively new concept of stereophonic sound reproduction. Mercury could provide all that and later that year the Mercury team arrived in Moscow with four tons of recording equipment and expert technicians. The resulting LP record was issued as “Balalaika Favourites” on the Mercury label both is the US and the USSR. A few years later it was released on the Dutch Philips label which made it more accessible to the international market. It remains an outstanding example of artistic collaboration between two unlikely compatriots, and is one of the finest recordings, both in performance and sound quality, of the 20th century. 

In 1970, Louis Armstrong added a spoken introduction to his song What a Wonderful World. Criticism of the song had started to emerge, principally due to the Vietnam War, but also to the ever ongoing issues of hunger and pollution. The song was re-issued with the spoken introduction, and I quote Armstrong’s words, from just a small portion of it: “Seems to me it ain’t the world that’s so bad, but what we’re doin’ to it. All I’m saying, is see what a wonderful world it would be if only we’d give it a chance. Love baby love! That’s the secret. If lots more of us loved each other, this world would be a better place.” 

In 1988, The Canberra School of Music performed Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem at Llewellyn Hall. Peace messages of support for this Canberra event arrived from Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Li Peng (Premier of China), Dr Perez de Cueller (United Nations) Jacques Delors (Commission of the European Communities) and our own leader, Bob Hawke. These were all printed in the program. In addition, ambassadors from the USSR, USA, UK and China all delivered speeches of support on stage at the event. In all, there were 281 musicians and singers performing that night. The musical director and conductor was Marie van Hove. 

In 2019, Canberra Strings, led by Barbara Jane Gilby, performed Metamorphoses by Richard Strauss at Wesley Church. The piece expresses Strauss’ despair at the effects of World War Two on Europe. I heard occasional nods to the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams during the performance - just fleeting glimpses in some of the chord structures. His “Symphony No. 6” also reflects themes of war. It serves as a gentle gesture of reconciliation from Germany to England. Most importantly however, this music and the performance of it, attempts to solidify a common goal of all peoples - to live in peace, harmony and tolerance. 

Perhaps most powerfully of all however, is the 1989 performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 conducted by Leonard Bernstein, at the Brandenburg Gate, marking the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the re-unification of Germany and through that, the beginning of the end for communist dictatorships in Europe. Introduced with a long spoken introduction by British music broadcaster Humphrey Burton, the event was televised live to 21 nations around the world. The orchestra was made up of members of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Kirov-Theatre Orchestra of Leningrad, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and Orchestra de Paris. The massed adult and children’s choirs were joined by soloists American soprano June Anderson, British mezzo-soprano Sarah Walker, German tenor Klaus König and German bass Jan-Hendrik Rootering. The passion, feeling and absolute dedication of the devoted musicians and singers to the purpose and importance of this Berlin Freedom Concert, with its international cast, epitomised the possibilities of human artistic achievement in uniting in a cause - in this case, a celebration of peace, freedom and unification.