Counsel in Concert: The Magna Carta

Counsel in Concert's main event this year is a celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. The programme combines well-known choral works with what is believed to be the New Zealand premiere of Kurt Weill’s Ballad of Magna Carta.

This is a charity concert raising funds for the Child Cancer Foundation. Performances are on Tuesday 15 December 2015 at 12.15 and 5.30 at St Andrew's on the Terrace. Entry by donation.

The concert will feature works associated with freedom and personal liberty, including Verdi’s Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy from his 9th Symphony.

The centrepiece of the concert is Kurt Weill’s Ballad of Magna Carta - a 15 minute cantata for orchestra, choir and soloists dramatically telling the story of the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215. The work features the grumpy, gouty king reluctantly forced into signing the Magna Carta by his rebellious barons. Roger Wilson will sing the role of King John and John Beaglehole is the narrator.

Counsel in Concert is based at Crown Law and has been running since 2009. The choir and orchestra are comprised of lawyers from throughout the Wellington region and law staff from Crown Law, augmented by members of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Wellington.

The organisers of the concert are very grateful to the sponsors: Simpson Grierson, Thomson Reuters, Greg Kelly Law, DLA Piper, Tripe Matthews & Feist, Lambton Chambers Barristers, Rachael Dewar Law, New Zealand Law Society, Duncan Cotterill, Lambton Goods, Fyfe & Doherty and WCM Legal. Their generosity means that all proceeds from the concerts will be donated to the Child Cancer Foundation