Olivia Murphy announces jazz Orchestral debut with Fateful Birds & Fledgling Stories and shares first single ‘calliope and the magpies’ out 8th May
The Olivia Murphy Jazz Orchestra by Ellie Koepke
Multi-award-winning composer and conductor Olivia Murphy today announces her orchestral debut, Fateful Birds and Fledgling Stories, released 8 May 2026. Marking a bold new chapter for one of the UK’s most distinctive large-ensemble voices, the announcement arrives alongside the album’s first single, ‘calliope and the magpies’.
Featuring Murphy’s 18-piece improvising Jazz Orchestra, Fateful Birds and Fledgling Stories is a sweeping 57-minute exploration of transformation, myth and identity, told through vivid avian imagery drawn from folklore and literature. Supported by the Help Musicians UK Next Level Award, the project captures an ensemble now in its fifth year of collaboration, bringing together some of the most compelling improvisers across both the London and Birmingham jazz scenes.
Pre-order / pre-save ‘Fateful Birds and Fledgling Stories’ here
Murphy’s music fuses contemporary composition and song-writing with elements of free improvisation, always rooted in storytelling. Hailed by UK Jazz News as “some of the most exciting large ensemble jazz emerging from the London scene today”, she has built a reputation for imaginative, emotionally resonant works that foreground the individual voices within her orchestra.
‘calliope and the magpies’ draws on the story of Calliope and the nine sisters she transforms into magpies - a tale that introduces one of the album’s central motifs: birds as vessels for change.
Compositionally one of the most open works on the record, the piece unfolds through cellular group improvisation across three interweaving layers. An ethereal rising piano line centres the music, while flutes, clarinet and tuba add mystical swells and fluttering textures. The brass (led by Charlotte Keeffe on trumpet) provide breath-led and percussive improvisations that enact the drama of transformation.
Vocalists Becca Wilkins and Rebecka Edlund bring an additional, entirely improvised dimension: Wilkins’ soaring high tones and Edlund’s refrain, “we are here to stay”, intertwine in a moment that feels spontaneous, defiant and luminous.
As the album’s opening track and first single, ‘calliope and the magpies’ introduces Murphy’s orchestral sound world: expansive yet intimate, grounded in individual voices but animated by collective motion.
About the Album: Fateful Birds and Fledgling Stories
Fateful Birds and Fledgling Stories is a ten-track, full-length orchestral statement built around a unifying thread of avian imagery drawn from literature, personal reflection and narrative invention. Throughout the album, birds appear in many forms - mythic, symbolic and intimate - serving as vessels for themes of transformation, perseverance, warmth and belonging. Rather than retelling any single mythology, the record traces emotional states and shared human experiences through these recurring images of flight, fragility and collective motion.
The project began as a studio recording of Murphy’s four-movement Sister Suite (tracks 6–9), before expanding into a broader, cohesive work for her 18-piece improvising orchestra. The suite takes its titles from a passage in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, in which four sisters are described as birds—a metaphor for their differing characteristics and paths in life. Across its four movements - the lark she writes about, turtle dove, the gull, and a grey-coated sandbird - Murphy explores optimism in the face of difficulty, softness and warmth, unwavering perseverance, and ultimately the strength found in community.
Across the wider album, Murphy moves fluidly between delicate, slow-building textures and full-bodied orchestral force. Intimate passages foreground individual improvising voices, while expansive ensemble writing allows the orchestra to swell and surge as a single organism. At its centre sits “where am I?”, a moment of contrast that leans into production and atmosphere, creating a new narrative space before the final arc unfolds.
The album closes with Murphy’s arrangement of ‘You Are There’, written by Johnny Mandel and Dave Frishberg - the only non-original composition on the record. Developed over several years as a feature for vocalist Becca Wilkins, the arrangement reflects the album’s broader preoccupation with change and presence, offering a simple yet devastating meditation to conclude Murphy’s orchestral debut.
While Murphy openly acknowledges the influence of large ensemble innovators such as Duke Ellington, Maria Schneider and Gil Evans, Fateful Birds and Fledgling Stories is ultimately shaped by the specific musicians within her orchestra. Written with their individual sounds and improvisational voices in mind, the album captures a collective that has grown together over five years - an ensemble ready to take flight together.
Album Credits
All compositions and arrangements by Olivia Murphy except ‘You Are There’, by Johnny Mandel and Dave Frishberg (arranged by Olivia Murphy)
Recorded by the Olivia Murphy Jazz Orchestra:
Olivia Murphy - Conductor
Becca Wilkins - Voice (Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Rebecka Edlund - Voice (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9)
Ruta Sipola - Flute
Lewis Sallows - Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet
George Garford - Alto Saxophone, Flute
Jonathan Chung - Tenor Saxophone
Alicia Gardener-Trejo - Baritone Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Bass Flute
Tom Syson, Alex Astbury & Charlotte Keeffe - Trumpet
Dave Sear, Joel Knee & Olivia Hughes - Trombones
Hanna Mbuya - Tuba
Daniel Kemshell - Guitar
Olly Chalk - Piano
Aram Bahmaie - Double Bass
Kai Chareunsy - Drums
Chris Hyson - Synth (Track 5)
Co-produced by Laura Jurd & Olivia Murphy
Recorded by Marcus Locock at Livingston Studios, London, 14th & 15th October 2024
Mixed by Sam Baldwin
Mastered by Peter Beckmann
Post-production by Chris Hyson (Tracks 1,2,3,5 & 10)
Cover artwork by Darcey Murphy
Cover design by Olivia Murphy
Studio Photography by Ellie Koepke
Supported by Help Musicians UK Next Level Award
