Ecce Cor Meum Press Release

Press Release - 13th October

Ecce Cor Meum - Paul McCartney, presented by Spicers

Orpheus Choir

Madeleine Pierard - soprano

The Choristers of Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Vector Wellington Orchestra

Michael Fulcher - conductor

8pm, Saturday 29 November

tickets $50-$15 from Ticketek

Although Sir Paul McCartney has explored classical music composition previously, Ecce Cor Meum, which translates as ‘Behold my Heart’, is one of his most conceptually and logistically ambitious projects - it is a work on grand scale, written in the style of sacred English choral music.

When he was invited by the President of Magdalen College, Oxford to create a composition celebrating the famous college’s new music hall, Paul McCartney was inspired to create a truly moving and life-affirming work.

His goal was to write "a choral piece which could be sung by young people the world over in the same way that Handel's Messiah is ." The texts, which combine English and Latin, are meditations on goodness, spirituality, peace, and love.

McCartney spent 9 years writing Ecce Cor Meum. He began in 1997, but when his wife Linda died of breast cancer the following year, McCartney ceased writing for a time - he notes that his grief can be heard in the lament section of the work.

When it was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in 2006, the immediate response to Ecce Cor Meum was extraordinary, with The Sunday Express newspaper’s critic describing it as “a profoundly moving work, a triumph”. To further confirm his achievement, in 2007 Sir Paul received the ‘Best Album Award’ at the ‘Classical Brits’ for Ecce Cor Meum.

Now New Zealanders have the chance to experience this outstanding work. On November 29, the Orpheus Choir, soprano Madeleine Pierard, the Choristers of Wellington Cathedral of St Paul and Vector Wellington Orchestra will perform the Australasian Premiere of Ecce Cor Meum at Wellington’s Town Hall. Spicers financial advisers are delighted to be sponsor of the Southern Hemisphere premiere of what is likely to be the highlight of this year’s musical calendar.

Madeleine Pierard, winner of the Lexus Song Competition in 2006, is returning to Wellington to sing the soprano role. She is at present studying at the Royal College in London, and has received impressive reviews for the roles she has undertaken.

Madeleine will also sing Samuel Barber’s wonderful Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a rarely-performed but exquisite work for solo soprano and orchestra.

This concert is certain to rate as one Wellington’s most exciting concert evenings of the year.