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We offer daily services and a creative programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
Come and celebrate the hope and light that Christmas brings each winter
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. This is a place for everyone who’s wondering about life’s big questions and striving for a better world.
We host a year-round creative programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word, drawing on St James’s rich cultural history including artists, writers and musicians Mary Beale, Mary Delany, William Blake, Ottobah Cugoano and Leopold Stokowski.
We try to put our faith into action by educating ourselves and speaking out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, earth and racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
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.
It costs us £3,500 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us
Your donation will help us restore our garden in Piccadilly as part of The Wren Project, making it possible for us to welcome over 300,000 people from all faiths and walks of life seeking tranquillity and inspiration each year.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
Directions on Google Maps
Ray Crocker, St James’s congregation historian, tells us more about Leopold Stokowski, a prodigiously talented musician who began his career at St James’s Piccadilly.
In relation to the music at St James’s Piccadilly and St Bart’s NY, Leopold Stokowski has been mentioned before. More needs to be said!
He was a very talented musician who led a long, eventful and colourful life. He was a precociously gifted genius, driven to make his mark.
He came to St James’s Piccadilly in 1902, aged just twenty two. He managed a good sized choir as well as playing the organ dazzlingly. Itchy feet coupled with ambition propelled him to New York, where he became Organist and Choir Leader at St Bart’s in 1905. We benefited from his gifts for a mere three years. His time at St Bart’s was also brief for he left there in 1908 to start his well documented career as conductor of prestigious orchestras, the Symphony Orchestra of Philadelphia being the most celebrated.
He was innovative and inspirational, eliciting melody from the orchestra often described as luxuriant and sonorous. He eschewed the use of a baton and his free flowing expressive hands performed a special kind of magic on the performers to produce a unique sound.
He worked in theatre and film. Disney’s “Fantasia” is one of his well-known productions.
He was equally ambitious in his relationships, marrying and divorcing three times. His last wife was the fabulously wealthy Gloria Vanderbilt. His name was also linked to that of Greta Garbo.
He died in England in 1977, at the great age of ninety five. He is buried in the cemetery at East Finchley, not many miles from his childhood streets of Marylebone.
If this short article has piqued your interest, there is much more written about this superstar. You will probably learn all there is to know in the 1,000 page “Stokowski, a Counterpoint of View” by Oliver Daniel. He and his magical hands can also be seen in action on YouTube.
