On June 15 1215 King John signed a document which has long been held to represent the beginnings of democracy, legal principles and human rights in these islands.

And to mark the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta at Runnymede, Brighton Festival Chorus and Orchestra are teaming up with Brighton Festival Youth Chorus and 125 youngsters from five city Brighton and Hove schools for the world premiere of a new work Invictus – Cantata For Liberty.

The new choral work has been penned by the Festival Chorus’s music director James Morgan and his wife, composer and mezzo-soprano Juliette Pochin.

“We looked at what was associated with Magna Carta,” says Morgan of the origins of the new work. “We wanted texts that were associated with liberty, freedom and justice.”

The six movements of the cantata feature famous works by the likes of Lewes’s Thomas Paine, Burwash-based Rudyard Kipling, Emily Dickinson and the titular Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley, interspersed with readings following the same theme.

“We wanted to cover as many different areas of society and history as possible,” says Morgan. “A lot of the words we have picked are very well known, even if people don’t know where they originally came from. We wanted to include a Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela speech, but we had to steer away from them because with copyright it becomes very difficult to get permissions.

“We felt our text has stood the test of time – their themes are still relevant today as they were when they were first written.”

The six movements are split between the adult Festival Chorus and the youngsters – boasting an age range between 11 and 82. The Year 7 and 8 students spent a day in April examining the subject of the new piece of music as part of their preparations for the concert.

“Wendy Forbes did an amazing job organising drama workshops exploring the themes of the Magna Carta,” says Morgan. “She also invited a criminal lawyer to talk about the justice system. The same day we had a straight forward rehearsal with Brighton Festival Youth Choir’s Esther Jones which was very disciplined and hard work, but the day informed their performance. It was fascinating to watch the kids through the day. Hopefully the whole event will feel like an achievement for them.”

Visitors to Thursday night’s performance will also see an art installation in the Brighton Dome Foyer created by students studying the themes of Magna Carta.

The programme also includes a performance of Mozart’s Requiem by the Brighton Festival Chorus – which marked its 500th performance earlier this year.

“We thought we had 150 kids who have never been to a classical concert before,” says Morgan. “We felt it was an opportunity to perform the most famous piece of choral music ever written.”

The music is being accompanied by scenes from Peter Schaffer’s Amadeus, with two actors portraying Mozart and Salieri to explore the creation of the composer’s last work.

“People who are coming to the music for the first time will understand a little bit more about it, rather than just being passive listeners,” says Morgan, who is a big advocate of bringing classical music to new audiences.

“As a society people are assaulted by so many different things in so many different ways. Rather than reinventing performance we have got to find ways of presenting them to a new audience. Kids come home from school enthusiastic about planets or dinosaurs because they have learned about them. There is no music appreciation in the classroom – but music can touch parts of you that most other things can never do. I passionately believe if people were introduced to, or knew a little bit more about the stuff we were doing they would get into it and love it. There is nothing not to love about Mozart’s Requiem.”

Duncan Hall

Essential information

Starts 7.30pm, tickets from £10/£7.50. Call 01273 709709.