This Choir Lost Their Voices to Cancer — Then Built an Instrument to Replace Them
On 26 October, at Kings Place in London, something extraordinary will happen: a new musical instrument — built from the vocal tracts of people who can no longer speak — will be heard for the first time.
The instrument is the creation of Shout at Cancer, the world’s only charity using music to support people who’ve had their voice boxes removed. For their tenth anniversary, the choir will unveil the “vox box” — a working organ made from 3D-printed models of their own throats.
The idea sounds almost impossible. Members of the choir, all of whom have had laryngectomies, sang inside MRI scanners while researchers at UCL and Royal Holloway recorded how their airways shaped sound. Those scans were turned into physical models and transformed into organ pipes. The result is an instrument that literally gives form — and voice — to what was once lost.
Shout at Cancer was founded in 2015 by surgeon and choir director Dr Thomas Moors. What began as a small experiment in using music for speech therapy has grown into a remarkable community, performing everywhere from the Royal Opera House to Amsterdam Opera. Their concerts are as much about visibility as sound — proof that communication isn’t confined to vocal cords.
The anniversary concert, Louder Than Before, brings together science, art and raw emotion. Alongside the debut of the new instrument, there will be original works created with composers Teddy Riley and Christian Drew, plus a collaboration with Belgian ensemble Die Verdammte Spielerei. It promises to be part concert, part experiment, and part celebration of what happens when people refuse to be silenced.
Elena Leo is the Arts & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
