‘Let’s Finish It’ - Watch this beautiful new piece of contemporary classical music with a twist.

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Entitled ‘Let’s Finish It’, this beautiful piece of music abruptly cuts to silence three-quarters of the way through before it reaches its most optimistic heights – symbolising the unfinished state of the new research facility we are building to spearhead efforts to transform cancer treatments.

We commissioned Callum Morton-Huseyin, a 25-year-old emerging contemporary classical composer, to create an original piece of music and for Britain’s national orchestra, the RPO, to perform it. The music is inspired by the incomplete building itself, the efforts of our researchers to outsmart cancer’s evolution and our currently unfinished business in defeating the disease.

The passages of the unfinished symphony are based on our efforts to understand the way cancers change and evolve, with the highs and lows of the music reflecting the historic successes and frustrations of cancer research. As the piece progresses, artfully conducted by William Vann, the music takes an upward turn, reflecting the building’s construction, our science, and the game-changing future discoveries that could overcome cancer’s evolution.

“I was inspired by the stories of all of the amazing professionals working to defeat cancer, and the music reflects the promise of the building in which they will do so. I’m eager to return to the studio and write a rousing ending to celebrate reaching the building’s funding goal. This music comes out of the stories of all those working hard to end cancer and, together, we can finish it.”

– Callum Morton-Huseyin, Composer

 

The Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery will be home to hundreds of scientists from different disciplines who will come together to lead an unprecedented ‘Darwinian’ programme that aims to overcome cancer’s ability to evolve resistance to drugs and ‘herd’ it into more treatable forms. This could turn cancer into a manageable disease that can be controlled long term and effectively cured.

“There will be no other cancer research building like this in the world. We’ll have researchers working hand-in-hand in an unprecedented way to find new treatments that can overcome cancer evolution and drug resistance.The unfinished symphony beautifully highlights the importance of raising the final £15m so we can get to work on this exciting new area of research.” 

– Dr Olivia Rossanese, Head of Biology in the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery

 

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