Our Story
The English city of Oxford is home to several institutions with a pre-eminent place in the world of choral music – amongst the dreaming spires chapels and choirs associated with significant names from Sheppard to Higginbottom coexist with more modern foundations like Christ Church. But just over Magdalen bridge lies an establishment held in absolutely unparalleled esteem by the choral community – we are referring of course to the Public House known as The Half Moon, beloved of the city’s musicians for as long as history relates for the simple reason that it stays open several hours longer than anywhere else. And it was here that, one freezing night in December 2021, a conversation took place between two holders of the office of Lay Clerk – one of the oldest posts in any of the University’s colleges, preceding the invention of undergraduates by some years – at New College and Magdalen College. Of this encounter, Selene was born.
Our aims are twofold: to present to an impeccable standard of performance the greatest choral repertoire of the past six centuries, right up to the present day; and to sing in particular the liturgical and paraliturgical polyphony of the 15th to the 17th centuries in concert in such a way as to fully express the raw expressive power and drama of the period’s best music.
As a consort, we see our shared background in the choir stalls of Britain’s chapels and cathedrals as entirely the best place from which to strive for these results. We are incredibly fortunate to have grown up in a country that boasts such a dazzling array of justly world-renowned choirs singing daily services, and between the eight of us we have done time in some of the foremost of these, from King’s and St John’s Colleges, Cambridge to the great Cathedral and Minster foundations at Durham, Southwell and Croydon.
Our core members are now based across the south of England and since leaving Oxford’s leading collegiate choirs have been found singing for leading groups such as Tenebrae, Ex Cathedra, The Queen’s Six and Stile Antico. Many of our singers are also accomplished soloists on both the oratorio and opera platforms, which allows for us to bring versatile and emotive singing to every performance.
Selene’s Musical Director is baritone and composer Dan Gilchrist.