Anne Marsden Thomas (Director of Music)

Anne has been Director of Music at St Giles' since 1980. She founded St. Giles International Organ School in 1992 and directed it until January 2012 when it became part of the education programme of RCO Academy. For many years she also directed the annual RCO Academy Summer Course for Organists in the City of London which regularly attracted 60-75 students from around the world. She is widely known for her work as organ teacher, concert organist and church musician. Her concert and teaching work has taken her to the USA, Japan, Europe and all over the UK, and she has made several commercial recordings. She has written and edited many books for organists, published by Oxford University Press, Cramer Music and the Royal School of Church Music. She has wide experience of examining grade examinations and diplomas. As well as teaching students of all standards, Anne enjoys training organ teachers.

Elizabeth Day (Organist)  

Elizabeth was educated in Scotland and attended Dundee University where she read mathematics as well holding the post of Assistant Organist of Dundee Cathedral. After graduating she trained as a primary school teacher and has taught in schools in Dundee, Edinburgh and Switzerland.

Whilst working in Edinburgh, she started taking organ lessons with Anne Marsden Thomas.  She has given many solo recitals including at Oxford Town Hall, St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, and Lichfield Cathedral as well as at several churches in London. 

She lives in South London with her husband and daughter.

Emma van Setten (Organ Scholar)

Emma joins us from Sevenoaks, where she was a student at Walthamstow Hall and organ scholar at St Mary's, Riverhead. She began studying the organ at the age of 13 with Graham Bartholomew but since 2018 has been learning with Anne Marsden Thomas. Emma will be completing the Organ Foundation year course at the Royal Academy of Music (2020/21) and hopes afterwards to read Music at University. Besides playing the organ, Emma is also a keen singer and violinist and plays an active role in many choirs and orchestras. She is greatly looking forward to joining the community at St Giles and everything that she will learn there.                    

Anne says 'Having taught Emma privately for the last two years I felt totally confident of her qualifications to become our organ scholar.  She is musical and hardworking, charming and reliable.  As she is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music and living only four Underground stops away, so our three organs will be ideal for her practice.' 

Penny 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. Her clear, warm voice is supported by a flawless technique and perfect intonation

Amanda Dean (alto)

Amanda began singing in choirs as a          child, conducted by Ronald Corp and Ralph Allwood.  She read Music at Cambridge University where she was a choral scholar at Trinity College. 

Since then she has sung mostly contemporary classical music. Stage projects include roles in Stockhausen’s Mittwoch as part of 2012’s Cultural Olympiad (with helicopters and a camel) and Birtwistle’s The Minotaur for the Royal Opera House (drenched in stage blood). Amanda continues to enjoy ensemble and choral singing. She has sung on many film soundtracks with London Voices, including several of the Star Wars and Harry Potter films.

Amanda also has a qualification in tax, and about half her working time is spent writing about tax, and preparing tax returns for clients working in the arts. She is happy with either a music score or the latest tax legislation. She also composes when she has time (so not very much) and runs a girls’ choir at a local school.

Amanda is an impeccable sight-reader and instantly adapts her vocal quality to whatever repertoire she is singing, whether it is Palestrina, McDowall, or anything in between.

Robin Whitehouse (tenor)

Robin Whitehouse studied voice and horn for a year at the Royal College of Music before reading maths at Oxford University. Whilst at Oxford he sang and played with all the major university choirs and orchestras, and continued to sing with the choir of St Mary the Virgin (the University church) until taking up his post at St Giles.

Operatic roles have included Alfredo (La Traviata), Abinadab (world premiere of Sam Hogarth’s David and Goliath with New Chamber Opera and most recently Prince Ramiro (La Cenerentola).

Solo engagements have included Evangelist in Bach’s Passions, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Britten’s Serenade, Nocturne and St Nicolas, as well as Strauss’s 2^nd Horn Concerto and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.1. He was recently invited to take part in a public masterclass on Mahler songs with the Oxford University Orchestra, taken by Ian Bostridge. He currently studies with Ann de Renais. Robin has an extraordinary dynamic range throughout his wide vocal compass. 

Thomas Kennedy (bass)

Previously a choral scholar at New College, Oxford, Thomas taught maths before returning to postgraduate study at the GSMD, where he won the English Song Prize. Since graduating with distinction in 2009,

Highlights of his concert work include The Messiah with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Iain Burnside's song project The lads in their hundreds at Kings Place and on BBC Radio 3, in which his contribution was singled out by Opera Now as 'a tour de force', and Ives' General William Booth enters the Kingdom of Heaven with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBCSO at the Barbican Hall. Tom is a consummate musician; his ability to lead or blend as required makes him a valued member of the quartet

The Grand Organ 

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.

Specification:

.

GREAT
Double Open Diapason 16
Open Diapason 8
Stopt. Diapason 8
Principal 4
Flute 4
Twelfth 2 2/3
Fifteenth 2
Larigot 1 1/3
Mixture lll
Fourniture lV-Vl
Mounted Cornet V
Trumpet 8
Clarion 4
Great Reeds on Choir
Swell to Great 

SWELL (enclosed)
Open Diapason
Stopt. Diapason 8'
Viola 8
Principal 4
Fifteenth 2
Mixture lll
Contra hautboy 16
Cornopean 8
Clariaon 4
Tremulant

PEDAL
Open Diapason 16
Bourdon 16
Octave 8
Flute 8
Gemshorn 4
Mixture lll
Trombone 16
Trumpet 8
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedal

CHOIR (unenclosed)
Stopt. Diapason 8
Dulciana 8
Principal 4
Nason Flute 4
Nazard 2 2/3
Spitz Flute 2
Tierce 1 3/5
Mounted Cornet V (from Great)
Cymbel lll
Cremona 8
Tremulant
Swell to Choir

COMPASS
Key compass C to a3 (58 notes)
Pedal compass C to f1 (30 notes) Radiating Concave

ACCESSORIES
8 general pistons, arranged above the Swell manual, with 16 memories
5 department pistons to Swell, Great, Choir.
5 combination pedals to Pedal department (right of centre)
5 combination pedals to Swell department (left of centre)
All couplers available as reversible pistons
Swell to Great, Great to Pedal also available as reversible coupler pedals
Rocker switch for Great and Pedal Combinations Coupler,
Rocker switch for Generals on Swell Combination Pedals
Independent sequencer, with three 'Next' pistons, one 'Next' pedal, and one 'Back' piston General cancel piston
Fully adjustable bench
Independent lights for manuals and pedals.

Mechanical action to manuals and pedals, with electrical stop action and electrical assistance on Swell to Great.

The Chancel Organ 

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

Specification:

GREAT
Open Diapason 8
Stopped Diapason 8
Principal 4
Fifteenth 2
Mixture IV 11/3
Trumpet 8
Swell to Great

SWELL
Gedackt 8
Principal 4
Chimney flute 4
Recorder 2
Sesquialtera II 22/3
Oboe 8
Tremulant

PEDAL
Bourdon 16
Principal 8
Trumpet 8

Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

COMPASS
Key compass C to a3 (58 notes)
Pedal compass C to f1 (30 notes) Straight Concave

ACCESSORIES
6 divisional pistons/toe pedals and 8 general pistons served by 66 memories
Stepper
Gt and Ped combinations coupler
Generals on Swell toe pistons
Adjustable toe pedal to give Swell to Pedal/Stepper Advance/Stepper Reverse
Fully adjustable bench

DISABLED-FRIENDLY FEATURES
Adjustable music stand
Talking stops device
Rings on the stop shanks to aid identification of tonal families

Mechanical action to all departments

The Practice Organ

Organ by Kenneth Tickell 2008 situated in the church office. For the exclusive use of students of Royal College of Organists Acredited Teachers. Please email AMT@organschool.com for details of how to book and pay for practice on this organ.

Specification:

MANUAL I (LOWER)
Stopt. Diapason 8
Principal 4

MANUAL II (UPPER)
Chimeny Flute 8
Spitz Flute 4

PEDAL
Open Flute 8

TOE PEDALS
Tremulant
Manual 1 to Pedals.

Direct suspended action to the upper manual.
Balanced action to the lower manual.

COMPASS
Key compass C to a3 (58 notes)
Pedal compass C to f1 (30 notes) Straight Concave

DISABLED-FRIENDLY FEATURES
A single ridge on the stop shank to identify the Principal stop by touch.
An adjustable bench with an exceptionally wide range of positions.

The Steinway B Grand Piano

We have a beautiful and well-maintained Steinway B Grand Piano.  If you would like to use this piano please contact the parish administrator, Jake Kirnir.

There is a ring of twelve bells hung for change ringing with a tenor weighing 34cwt and tuned to C-sharp. They are augmented by a sharp-second which provides a light ring of eight, tenor 11cwt in G-sharp. Full details of these bells, and their predecessors, are published at http://london.lovesguide.com/giles_cripplegate.htm. Ringing is arranged by the Ancient Society of College Youths and details are on their website http://www.ascy.org.uk/act_services.php. Visiting ringers are very welcome. To arrange a visit please contact the Tower Secretary Gwen Rogers.

The old bells of St. Giles’ were destroyed in a WW2 incendiary raid on the 29th. December 1940. The cracked remnants lay at the bottom of the tower until 1949 when the war was over, and they could be moved    Whitechapel Foundry workers with the surviving bells and metal in 1949.

In 1954 a completely new ring of twelve bells was installed in the tower.

After more than sixty years moving parts are wearing out and must be replaced before they break. Three bells were leaking grease from their bearings which is a sign of a severely worn or even a cracked gudgeon. “What are gudgeons?” PCC members asked when the bell ringers requested permission and financial support for replacement.  An explanation that “they are metal pins from which a bell hangs and which rotate in bearings mounted on a frame attached to the tower walls” did not convey much information. The following labelled picture of a bell would have helped.

If a gudgeon breaks the bell will fall, smashing into its wheel or frame. Where it lands is unpredictable and how much damage it does on the way equally so. Look again at the bells in the post-war photograph above!

Convinced that the work was necessary the PCC agreed to pay half of the bill and the rest was funded by a grant from the Ancient Society of College Youths (ASCY) (www.ascy.org.uk).

Work commenced in November 2017 when the three bells were lowered to the belfry floor, their wheels were removed and the headstocks with gudgeons and bearings attached were winched to the church floor for transit to Whites of Appleton (www.whitesbellhangers.co.uk). Six weeks later the process was reversed. Bright blue headstocks with brand new gudgeons and bearings were winched back up the tower and the three bells rehung.

The work was done by a team of volunteers, all ringers, including members of the Middlesex Association Spanner Club (http://www.bellringing.london/) and St. Giles’ own steeple keeper, Terry Streeter. They were led by James Haseldine one of the Whites’ Bell Hangers.

Headstock (blue) being lowered into place above the 8^th. bell after being winched on chains from the church floor.

With thanks to all involved especially the PCC and ASCY for funding and the volunteer bell hangers for several days’ hard labour.

Gwen Rogers

Tower Secretary                                     Terry and the freshly rehung 9th. bell

St. Giles’ Cripplegate