Middlesex Voices

The central event for the 2016 FitzFest was Middlesex Voices – a new work by Scanner which marked the public opening of the Fitzrovia Chapel following its £2million restoration. As the only surviving part of the Old Middlesex Hospital following the demolition and redevelopment of the site in 2006, the work – especially commissioned by the festival and created specifically for the Chapel – used memories from people that worked, trained and were treated at the Old Middlesex Hospital that have been recorded and weaved into a musical sound installation. Throughout the course of the installation, one of the 15 professional festival musicians performed live with improvisations responding to Scanner’s soundscape and working in shifts 24-hours a day throughout the four-day festival, echoing the shift patterns of the hospital’s workers.