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We offer daily services and a cultural programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate
The Sunday Forum is an open online group, that runs parallel to the coffee after the service, from 12.30pm to 1pm on a Sunday, open to all.
Sunday 19 July 3pm-4.30pm
Hymns and Pimm’s in the Garden. Join St James’s Music Scholars past and present as they lead you through your favourite hymns, whilst enjoying a glass or two of Pimms.
St James’s hosts inclusive services and a cultural programme. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
St James’s is a place to explore, reflect, pray, and support all who are in need. We are a Church of England parish in the Anglican Communion.
We host a year-round creative programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word.
We offer hospitality to people going through homelessness and speak out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
St James’s strives to advocate for earth justice and to develop deeper connections with nature.
We aim to be a place where you can belong. We have a unique history, and the beauty of our building is widely known. Our community commits to faith in action: social and environmental justice; creativity. and the arts
We strive to be a Eucharist-centred, diverse and inclusive Christian community promoting life in abundance, wellbeing and dignity for all.
St James’s Piccadilly has been at the heart of its community since 1684. We invite you to play your part in securing this historic place for generations to come.
It costs £5,000 each day to keep the doors of St James’s open to all who already need us.
A reimagined St James’s realised. A redesigned garden, courtyard and new building capacity—all fully accessible— will provide beautiful spaces for all as well as improving our environmental performance.
Whether shooting a blockbuster TV series or creating a unique corporate event, every hire at St James’s helps our works within the community.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
Directions on Google Maps
Monday 15 June 1.10pm
Joanna Lam and Geoff Clapham perform a beautiful piano and voice recital.
Online streaming
This concert will be streamed live on our YouTube channel at 1:10pm.
Support our Creative Programme
Whether £5 or any amount you’re able to give. Donations can be made in cash in the basket on your way out, or by tap donation at the machines at our exits. Your generosity helps support our cultural events and charitable services. Thank you.
Free admission | Donations welcome
Programme
Ballade, Op. 6 (1894) Amy Beach (1867–1944)
The lake isle of innisfree, Muriel Herbert (1897–1984)
Poem by W. B. Yeats (1865–1939)
Ophelia’s Song (1929), Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994)
Words from Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Songs to the Dark Virgin from Four Songs from The Weary Blues (1935), Florence Price (1887–1953)
Poem by Langston Hughes (1901–1967)
Jeux d’eau M.30 (1901) Maurice Ravel
Scintille Diamond from Les Contes d’Hoffmann (1881) Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)
Leave Me, Loathsome Light from Semele, HWV 58 (1743),George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
The Salley Gardens (1943), Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
Bredon Hill, No. 5 from Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (1911), George Butterworth (1885–1916)
Poem by A. E. Housman (1859–1936)
In the Highlands (1972), Douglas Steele (1910–1999),
Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
Artist bio
Joanna Lam commenced piano lessons at the age of 8, proceeding to win prizes at several national music festivals. After leaving Chetham’s School of Music, she continued to study with Masayuki Tayama whilst reading Music at King’s College London where she received First Class Honours and was further awarded the Purcell Prize for gaining the highest mark in the degree. Most recently, she has been awarded a Scholarship to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she gained her Artist Master’s in Performance with Distinction.
Joanna has appeared in Masterclasses with Søren Rastogi, Noriko Ogawa, Vanessa Latarche, Norma Fisher and Frédéric Aguessy. She has performed at London’s Royal Festival Hall, the Steinway Hall, Bridgewater Hall, EPTA’s annual conference, the Barbican, and Milton Court Concert Hall in London. Joanna is the winner of Essex Young Musician of the Year 2024 and has become a regular soloist at Hitchin Festival and the Iris Axon recital series in London.
She was awarded the prestigious Jellinek Prize as a winner of the Una Clark Young Artists’ Competition, leading to a performance of Rachmaninov’s 1st Piano Concerto with Guildford Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with Chineke! Foundation and appeared as the soloist in performances of concertos by Fauré and Saint-Saëns, working with conductors Daniel King-Smith and Levon Parikian. An experienced chamber musician, Joanna has collaborated with the renowned clarinettist and Principal of the Royal Northern, Linda Merrick, and is a Song Easel Young Artist along with baritone Geoff Clapham. She plays regularly with the Orelia piano trio who were this year’s winners of the Ivan Sutton Chamber Prize and who have made their debut in France and Canada this year.
Joanna is passionate about elevating the platform for lesser known and female composers, and sharing these works with audiences. In 2022 she performed as part of Sarah Cahill’s marathon project The Future is Female at the Barbican, promoting music by unsung female composers. Most recently she has been a semifinalist of Birmingham International Piano Competition and prizewinner at the Coulsdon & Purley Festival, North London Festival, and Guildhall’s Beethoven and Romantic Prizes. She has been selected for Le Foyer des Artistes Concerto Award Piano Spectacle in Collaboration with YAMAHA Europe, and performed in their prestigious Final at St. Columb’s Hall in Ireland. Joanna has recorded for Prima Facie Records and has directed the Music Academy at the Felsted International Summer School several times. She holds an award from the Wayne Sleep Foundation and is thrilled to continue her studies through the Artist Diploma programme at Guildhall. She is proud to be a Talent Unlimited Artist.
Geoff began singing as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral. Following a protracted voice break, he became a choral scholar at St John’s College Cambridge, reading Music. After many years in the wilderness, including a stint as a barman in Florence, he undertook singing studies in earnest at the Guildhall.
Of late, a few operatic forays have included the roles of Scarpia in Opera Loki’s Tosca, receiving an OffWestEnd award nomination for best opera performance, the title role in an abridged Giulio Cesare at the Edinburgh Fringe, Colline in Regent Opera’s La Boheme and Sergeant in Jam Factory Opera’s Pirates of Penzance. He performs the role of Basilio in Opera Kipling’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia later this summer.
Geoff is an active recitalist, performing with his duo partner Joanna Lam, with whom he was a recent SongEasel young artist. They can be found all over the place, often at lunchtimes, performing largely 19th and 20th century art songs, arias and solo piano works.
Geoff is also regularly found on the oratorio stage, recent endeavours including Elijah, Messiah, Carmina Burana and the Brahms Requiem.
