Experience Rochester Cathedral as a living, breathing musical ecosystem. Created by composer Dan Samsa in partnership with 2Makeit, a charity using creative arts as a tool for rehabilitation, SPIRITUS, bridges the cathedral’s acoustic space with the voices and creative expressions of those supported by the justice system.

At the heart of this takeover is a single, unified 16-minute performance that seamlessly blends live organ, live spoken word, and a surround sound speaker setup. Inspired by Anapanasati (the ancient practice of mindfulness of breathing), the work is structured around a repeating 16-step chord sequence that texturally journeys from grounding physical depth to spiritual release. Abandoning a rigid time signature, the musical patterns, shifting chords, and micro-textures are triggered organically by the organist’s actual breath.

Moving through the multichannel space, the surround sound speakers play edited fragments from unique recordings captured inside prisons with groups of prisoners, transforming isolation into collective harmony. Piercing through the quieter, intimate movements of the piece is Dum Spiro Spero (“While I breathe, I hope”), a powerful live spoken-word performance by an ex-prisoner that serves as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

By pairing the mechanical lungs of the cathedral organ with the literal breath and live voices of those impacted by the justice system, SPIRITUS bridges the city with its hidden populations. It offers the public a profound, transcendent meditation on the one thing we all share: the breath of life.

Experience SPIRITUS on Thursday 6 August 2026, between 10am and 4:30pm as part of Art on the Delta.