Episode 11
Rising Beyond the Conspiracy of Silence
This powerful orchestral work embodies Maggie's journey from enforced silence to defiant expression. For 17 years she endured incestuous abuse by her brother and emotional torment from her mother both demanding secrecy through threats, shaming and punishment. Society reinforced this silence with taboo denial and disbelief. The piece begins with 20 seconds of visual imagery depicting various forms of abuse while musicians mime playing no sound allowed. Then slowly tentative notes emerge as her dissociated parts test the waters daring to speak.
As trust grows so does the music, more instruments join rhythms to strengthen harmonies. What follows is a collective uprising of her inner system once silenced now unified in sound. By the finale the full orchestra plays with confidence, pride and hardwon hope. “Rising Beyond the Conspiracy of Silence” is not just music it is Maggie's liberation and a resonant call to all survivors your voice matters and silence ends when you choose to speak.
Narrator: James Morrison and NLM Sound Engineer: Nick from King Sound Studio
James Morrison | Jazz Musician
James Morrison is, by anybody’s standard, a virtuoso in the true sense of the word. Besides the trumpet, this multi-instrumentalist also plays piano, all the brass, saxophones, and double bass.
At the age of six he started on piano, at seven he took up brass, at nine he formed his first band and at thirteen he was playing professionally in nightclubs. His international career developed just as quickly with a debut in the USA at the Monterey Jazz Festival at age sixteen.
Following this were performances at the world’s major jazz festivals, including Montreux, North Sea, Nice and the Hollywood Bowl, playing with many of the legends of jazz - Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, George Benson, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Quincy Jones, Ray Brown and Wynton Marsalis to name a few. James also frequents the world’s most famous jazz clubs – Birdland, The Blue Note and Village Vanguard in New York, New Morning in Paris, The Tokyo Blue Note and Ronnie Scott’s in London.
Now 58, James Morrison’s career has included much more than just jazz…
He has recorded with The London Symphony Orchestra, rock legends INXS and the European Brass Ensemble, performed at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms, written the opening fanfare for the Olympic Games, played Royal Command performances for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and for US Presidents Bush and Clinton. He has played classical trumpet at the Kremlin, was TV presenter on Top Gear Australia and on International Jazz Day 2016, James was a guest of President Obama at the White House.
James has been appointed a member of The Order of Australia, he is a Doctor of the University at Queensland Conservatorium of Music and has received a Doctor of Music from the Edith Cowan University Western Australia and the University of Adelaide. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia and Vice-Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow. In 2015 James founded his own academy of music in Mount Gambier, South Australia. The James Morrison Academy of Music @ UniSA is an innovative school dedicated to teaching jazz and offering both a Bachelor Degree and post graduate programs. This exciting initiative involves educators from all over the world, transforming young musicians’ lives with inspiration and a love of jazz. In 2017, the JMA partnered with The Juilliard School in New York City to offer an exclusive Honours Program.