St James Garlickhythe has a fine tradition of celebrating the greatest in English choral music. Our honorary organist is Sir Andrew Parmley, currently the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Organists.

We have a number of choirs that rotate through the month.

• The St James Choral Scholars – ­a quartet of of student singers

• The Thames Chamber Choir – an east London chamber choir under the baton of Andrew Campling.

• St James Choir – our resident singers who perform for special occasions and at extra services.

• Stellae Cantores – our home grown ensemble who, when they aren’t singing, are ringing the church bells.

The church organ, with s lovely baroque case, is one of the most historic in a city that has many such instruments. For many years it was held to have been built ‘Father’ Bernard Smith in 1697, and re-sited here by Johann Knoppell in 1719 when the narthex and west gallery were constructed; but it is now also suggested that Knoppell built it anew for St James, even if he may have included some recycled material.

The organ currently has three manuals, (Great, Choir, and Swell) with a pedal division added in 1888, and currently numbers 26 speaking stops. In 2007 our Organist, Sir Andrew Parmley, launched a major restoration programme which raised £325,000. The organ was restored by Manders and the case restored, removing years of blackened varnish. A history of the organ, containing historic and current stop specifications, by Canon Nicholas Thistlethwaite, is available for purchase from the church.

If you wish to know more about our music, please contact us at adminSJG@london.anglican.org.