The Sixteen release a touching lockdown video of John Sheppard's Libera Nos

Video also marks the story of one soprano's pregnancy and homebirth during lockdown

Published 13th May 2020
Last updated 16th May 2020

The Sixteen led by conductor Harry Christophers has released a lockdown video featuring members of the group singing Libera Nos by 16th century composer John Sheppard - a piece that forms part of many of the ensemble's concert programmes.

Amid a slew of split-screen lockdown videos which have emerged during the COVID-19 outbreak, the group pulls off something a little different from most, combining music 'quintessially The Sixteen's' with the everyday chores of lockdown life.

Expect to see Harry Christophers in shorts, people putting the washing on a line, and dogs going about their days. Crosswords, book-reading, ironing and a couple of gin and tonics are thrown in for good measure too. Stick to the end too - there is something which will surely bring a tear to the eye.

In this way the video subverts expectations, like many others have done during the lockdown period. In the space of a few weeks musicians previously seen from an auditorium, or cathedral nave, are seen in the same locations as our own lives. And that imagery mixed with the exquisite sound of the group singing Shephard's Libera Nos has a powerful effect.

The loss of performance opportunities has hit many musicians hard. But what of their wellbeing, especially for a close-knit singing group like The Sixteen?

"They're keeping in contact," explained Christophers when we spoke to him earlier this week. They are a very close group. When they're not with each other its really quite difficult.

"We spend our lives performing and when that's taken away from us its terrible. A lot of singers are doing online teaching which is great, but nothing replaces what we do for a living which is performing up and down the country.

"That's the single most difficult thing. I think for singers - for all artists it's hard - but for singers their music comes totally from themselves. Having said that, they are being phenomenally upbeat. They're a great bunch of singers. They have great personalities. They still laugh."

The great thing with The Sixteen is that we have a lot of recordings which get played. And the thing about a group like The Sixteen is that we've been there for 40 years. We'll be there again when we get back to normality. We will need to rebuild. We will need to regather reserves. We live off a shoestring but we are pretty good at doing that. For us, it will be about returning to those communities up and down the country.

Many groups are making plans for a gradual return to live performance, though the timing is still very much unsure. In Shanghai last week, the Symphony Orchestra have begun their return to live performance with a socially-distanced concert featuring a string quartet. What of The Sixteen?

"We need direction," responded Christophers. "We need to know when the cathedrals might open. And when there's a clear picture of getting back to doing concerts. The lucky thing is that I'm hopeful that cathedrals will think they'll be able to reconfigure the space. I just hope that things will return in the autumn. I'm ever the optimist but I suppose I should be a pessimist and conclude that things won't return to normal for us until next year.

Christophers explained further: "The great thing with the Sixteen is that we have a lot of recordings which get played. And the thing about a group like The Sixteen is that we've been there for 40 years. We'll be there again when we get back to normality. We will need to rebuild. We will need to regather reserves. We live off a shoestring but we are pretty good at doing that. For us, it will be about returning to those communities up and down the country."

Later in our conversation with Harry Christophers, talk returned to the video of Libera Nos.

"I wanted to take something that was absolutely quintessentially The Sixteen and it's John Sheppard's music - an early 16th century composer - Libera Nos. It's a trademark Sixteen piece that is incredibly emotional for us in performance.

"We asked them to do two videos - one straight and one doing everyday things. There's an element of seeing the humanity of all our eighteen singers in the group, but also seeing the funny aspect of all this.

"There is one staggering bit - if you were filming this normally you wouldn't be able to predict. One of our sopranos - Katie - this lockdown came when she was about to give birth. On the day she shot this video she had labour pains. She had a home birth. When you see the final clip she's given birth. You couldn't write that. It is absolutely amazing. Her new daughter is destined to be in The Sixteen. You know she's singing with the baby in the womb at the beginning, and at the end she's singing with the baby there."

And the translation of Libera Nos? 'Deliver Us'. Appropriate on so many levels.

Katy from The Sixteen appeared on Angellica Bell's show on Saturday 16 May 2020. Listen back to the interview below.