Finally, one group of protesters was removed, our jovial maestro reappeared to a stirring ovation, and the orchestra repeated Haunted Hills, despite a brief outburst from the other side of the Gallery and more outraged responses from the stalls.

After the symphonic poem a piano was wheeled into place and we awaited the soloist. Minutes passed – tittering – nervous laughter – but no hand-clapping, impressively. Then a disembodied voice announced that due to a change in the program we would now hear Antonin Dvořák’s Sixth Symphony, and the guiltless piano was cautiously removed. (A budding proficient of the piano seated next to me wailed ‘But I came for the Tchaikovsky!’)

Jaime Martín conducts the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (photograph by Chris Christodoulou/BBC)

Bouquets to Jaime Martín and the players for launching into Dvořák’s symphony in D major, Op. 60 (1880) with such concentrated energy and brio. Though overshadowed by the radiant Ninth Symphony and rarely played at the Proms, the symphony, which opens with nationalist overtones and folk-song themes, is well worth hearing. Stephen Johnson, in the program, writes: ‘The Sixth Symphony was to be a milestone in terms of Dvořák’s development. From this glorious beginning Dvořák was able to create his first truly great symphonic opening movement. Another thing that’s new about the Sixth Symphony is the complete assurance of the orchestral writing.’

Here, the playing was of a high order, with exceptional work from the wind section, especially Prudence Davis on flute. The ‘Furiant’ scherzo – a rousing conception – was brilliantly done. The ovation that followed the Brahmsian Finale was loud, and pointed.

After assurances that the rest of the program would proceed, there was much speculation about the protests during interval. The locals were bewildered, but Australians present will not have been surprised to learn that the agitators were protesting against the orchestra’s previous regime’s sacking of Jayson Gillham in 2024 (a case that is still before the Federal Court) and against the MSO’s acceptance of money from the Gandel family, whose generosity towards the National Gallery of Victoria led to the gallery being targeted, and briefly closed, in August.

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performs at Royal Albert Hall (photograph by Chris Christodoulou/BBC)

The gargantuan Royal Albert Hall – with its five tiers and 5,000-seat capacity – was full on this occasion. Not everyone was there for the MSO’s return to London. Georgian-born pianist Khatia Buniatishvili clearly has a huge following in Britain; the audience greeted her like a rock star before she had played a note. Buniatishvili began performing in Tbilisi as a child and made her Carnegie Hall début when she was twenty-one. In December 2024 she appeared at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto (1875) is a favourite of the Proms, now in its 131st season. Henry Wood conducted the first performance of the concerto in 1896, and for the next sixty-eight years (with the sole exception of 1912) it was played at least once a year at the Proms. Recent exponents have included Lang Lang and Martha Argerich. (I first heard it played at the Albert Hall in 1977, standing frugally in the Gallery and keeping my politics to myself, it must be noted.)

Buniatishvili is a flamboyant performer in every sense. She attacked the famous opening with considerable force and adventurous use of rubato. She was at her best during the long cadenza in the first movement and during the exquisite andantino. Her mannerisms at times were distracting; she wields her hair like an additional member of the orchestra. These are histrionic times for many concert pianists – not just Lang Lang.

Overall, despite the orchestra’s superb playing, Jaime Martín’s admirable composure, and the soloist’s virtuosic performance, this was a rather depressing experience, with worrying implications for live performances of all sorts. How fragile the arts begin to seem when a few malcontents – though publicly opposed to the idea of ‘censorship’ – deem it acceptable to sabotage a concert because of a legal skirmish on the other side of the world and because of the invincible purity of their politics. The righteous ones are everywhere, even in concert halls. One day, perhaps, their children will ask them what they did during the war. ‘Oh, we blocked the escalators at the NGV. Then we closed down the State Library. And we burnt a few books for good measure.’ Would the organisers prefer the MSO not to perform again, or at least not to go on international tours? (How, we wonder, will the BBC Proms respond to this unwelcome embarrassment?) Have these people not heard that Australia, like most countries in the world, has announced its intention to recognise the state of Palestine? And how, more to the point, do their self-indulgent displays remotely alleviate the suffering, the starvation, and the slaughter of Palestinians?

We filed out into the London night with those tired chants and furious rebukes in our ears, not the music of Sutherland, Tchaikovsky, and Dvořák.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performed at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. Performance attended: 29 August 2025.