Getting back on song

NINE singers are spread out like chess pieces across the black-and-white chequered floor. In the background hangs a rainbow painting, not with a message of thanks to key workers, but the inscription (‘no rainbow without the sun’). It alludes to the portrait’s sitter, Elizabeth I, who is shown bringing a colourful arc to her people. The Marble Hall of Hatfield House is one of a handful of handsome settings for by The Sixteen, a mix of performance and documentary presented by actor—and former chorister —Sir