Music
The Organs and the Organ School
The Choir
The Bells

With regular concerts in the Church, and its use for recording sessions and broadcasts, music is a major part of the life of the Church. The St Giles International Organ School is based here with regular tuition in Church music.

Hiring St Giles

Members of The Sixteen recording in St Giles in October, 2005.

The Organs

We now have two first-class organs speaking into the body of the church. The Grand Organ, mounted on a gallery, has three manuals, a radiating/concave pedalboard, mechanical action, 39 speaking stops, balanced Swell pedal and a full range of modern accessories including a sequencer. This organ is ideal for solo work, and for accompanying musicians in the west gallery. Organ history: Jordan & Bridge 1733, Willis 1872, Jones 1902, Mander 1970. It was cleaned and restored in Autumn 2008.

Rick Wakeman used the grand organ at St. Giles Cripplegate in 1972 for a track on his album “The Six Wives of Henry VIII”

The chancel organ was installed 2008, has two manuals, a straight/concave pedalboard, mechanical action, 15 speaking stops, a balanced Swell pedal and a full range of modern accessories including generals and a stepper. This organ is ideal for accompanying musicians on the large chancel, to which it is adjacent.
There are unique carvings on the woodwork

There is a new partnership between Royal College of Organists and St Giles International Organ School. Director of RCO Academy Simon Williams explained: “The launch of RCO Academy in 2009 was aimed at increasing the volume and breadth of the learning opportunities the College can offer to musicians of all ages and playing abilities. Some of this expansion has been organic, through the development of our existing programme and events for example. But it was always hoped that some of it would be through the formalising of existing relationships with organisations, and we are absolutely delighted to be following this route with the St Giles International Organ School. Through the new RCO St Giles Organ School, the College will be able to offer a wider range of classes and events than ever before. It is a significant and exciting milestone."

Anne Marsden Thomas is the Director of Music and runs the Organ School
amt@organschool.com or 020 7638 8285

The Choir

The professional vocal quartet sings two anthems and leads the congregational singing at the Sunday morning service. The choir is also available for special services (weddings, funerals, memorials, livery and carol services).


Benjamin Seifert (baritone) read Modern Languages at St Peter’s College, Oxford. He then studied singing on ENO’s The Knack and as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2004 he performed as a soloist in Orlando Gough’s For the Public Good at the ENO and has since sung at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Cadogan Hall, the Purcell Room and the Wigmore Hall. He has worked with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company at Buxton, British Youth Opera, Grange Park Opera, Opera Holland Park, Opera by Definition, Tête à Tête Opera and Arcola Opera. Recent operatic roles include Colas (Bastien & Bastienne), Zaretzsky (Eugene Onegin) Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Don Giovanni, the Count, (Le Nozze di Figaro), Bill Bobstay (HMS Pinafore), the Foreman (Trial by Jury) and Marcello (La Bohème) at the Soho Theatre. Oratorio work includes the Messiah, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Fauré’s Requiem.	Steve Trowell (tenor) Steve Trowell grew up in Ipswich but has lived in London since graduating from The University Of York in 1994 as a singer and saxophonist. Since 1996 his main work has been with The Magnets, the a cappella pop band. The Magnets’ audiences have ranged from 20,000 people in Hyde Park to ten people in Elle Macpherson's living room; in January 2010 they sold out The Roundhouse in Camden. These days he balances his time between singing and arranging for The Magnets, singing and playing with other jazz, rock and pop bands, recording vocal sessions and looking after orangutans in Borneo. Steve is incredibly versatile, effortlessly switching from his ‘Magnets’ style to classical purity, with first-class sight-reading and a wonderful high register.

Penelope Sharpe (soprano) Penny Sharpe was born in Tasmania where she trained at the Conservatorium. After singing in the Lyric Opera Company, Brisbane, she joined the Song Company (an a capella ensemble specialising in early and contemporary music) in Sydney. With the Song Company she was involved in festivals, concerts, recordings, children’s concerts and live broadcasts on national radio, plus tours of South Korea and New Zealand and throughout Australia. Currently she earns a regular salary working in market research, primarily in wine and spirits, while taking professional singing engagements on a part-time basis. She is a keen bellringer, and since joining St. Giles’ choir three years ago she has entered into church life as a member of the PCC and its Social Committee. Her clear, warm voice is supported by a flawless technique and perfect intonation	Suzanne Higgins (contralto) Born in Denmark, Suzanne studied singing privately in Yorkshire, before moving to Belgium and subsequently Germany, where she sang full time in Opera and Radio Choruses. She has been alto soloist in oratorios both in the UK and Germany, and her choral session work has taken her to Europe, Canada and the Middle East. Suzanne teaches singing for Hertfordshire Music Services and Headington School in Oxford; she is also an adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Music Festivals. Suzanne has contributed her velvety contralto and perceptive music-making to the St. Giles’ choir for seventeen years. Her spare time activities include knitting, country walking and folk music.

	With regular concerts in the Church, and its use for recording sessions and broadcasts, music is a major part of the life of the Church. The St Giles International Organ School is based here with regular tuition in Church music. Hiring St Giles
Members of The Sixteen recording in St Giles in October, 2005.

Music The Organs and the Organ School The Choir The Bells

The Organs

The Choir

Music
The Organs and the Organ School
The Choir
The Bells