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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
From Sun 6 to 27 April
Breastplate will be displayed behind the altar of the Side Chapel and lit from below so that it glows from within, thereby revealing its feather-filled fragility and the talismanic contents of its pockets.
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 aspire to be a home where everyone can belong. We’re known locally and globally for our unique history and beauty, as well as faith in action, creativity and the arts, and a commitment to social and environmental justice.
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.
The work of St James’s, it costs us £5,000 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who 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
Thursday 10 April 6.30-7.30pm on Zoom
St James’s Grinling Gibbons organ is being restored for the first time in 300 years—join experts to explore its music and symbolism.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86181498221?pwd=cCdG49ZBF6Tm5w5nGjcRJ5hhemftnF.1
Meeting ID: 861 8149 8221
For the first time over three centuries, 3000 organ pipes have been removed from St James’s famous Grinling Gibbons organ case for restoration, so that new generations will hear its voice again. This is an ideal time for new conversations about sacred music and the symbolism of Gibbons’ woodcarving. Join world-famous British contralto Jess Dandy, Helen Smee (Director of Music, Southwark Cathedral), and Novelette Aldoni-Stewart (Chair, Church of England Buildings Council) for an event inspired by St James’s Wren Project. Everyone is welcome. No need to register beforehand.
Jess Dandy
Cumbrian born Jess Dandy is the foremost British contralto of her generation and has been praised for her instrument of velvety plangent timbre, and her artistic remarkable immediacy. Jess studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and is an alumna and Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Highlights of the 2024/25 season include her return to the BBC Proms for Holst’s The Cloud Messenger with the BBC Symphony conducted by Sakari Oramo, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Boston Symphony conducted by Ludovic Merlot at Tanglewood, Thomas Adès Totentanz with Leipzig Gewandhausorchester conducted by Thomas Adès, Mozart’s Requiem with Aalborg Symphony conducted by Sofi Jeannin, Handel’s Messiah with Tampere Philharmonic conducted by Matthew Halls, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Concertgebouworkest conducted by Riccardo Minasi and Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet with Bergen Philharmonic and Bryn Terfel, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
Helen Smee
Helen Smee is a conductor, organist and workshop leader specialising in choral direction. A prize-winning graduate of the Choral Conducting course at the Royal Academy of Music, she works with a wide range of choirs, singers and instrumentalists. She leads choral workshops for schools, festivals and music organisations throughout the UK.
Based in Oxford, Helen is Director of the Cathedral girls’ choir, Frideswide Voices, at Christ Church Cathedral. Alongside a busy freelance portfolio, including regular work as an animateur, adjudicator and choral advisor, she is Director of Oxford-based chamber choir, Jubilate, and currently Interim Director of Music at Hertford College, Oxford. She is a passionate advocate for women and girls in church music, and for the importance of high-quality music education for all young people.
Novelette Aldoni-Stewart
Novelette Aldoni-Stewart is Chair of the Church Buildings Council, the statutory body providing advice relating to the Church of England’s 16 000 buildings. She is also a conservator, cultural institutions consultant, and author, and is a trustee of the UK charity Art & Christianity. serve as a member of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England and the Faculty Advisory Committee at Bristol Cathedral. Born in Jamaica before moving to the US and then the UK, Novelette has an MA in arts administration from New York University and an MSc in objects conservation from University College London. With extensive experience in both the UK and overseas, Novelette has worked for a range of institutions including the Horniman and British Museum in London. She is also currently studying for a doctorate as part of an AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) Collaborative Doctoral Partnership between the British Museum and the Sainsbury Research Unit at the University of East Anglia.
You can watch her conversation with The Revd Dr Ayla Lepine about St James’s Piccadilly, contested heritage and Quobna Ottobah Cugoano here.
