Vacancy:
Organist & Director of Music
St Paul’s, Clapham seeks a collaborative-minded and liturgically sensitive Organist & Director of Music to lead and develop the musical life of our parish. This is an exciting opportunity to support worship at the heart of a warm and active church community, playing our historic Forster & Andrews organ and helping congregational singing, choirs and musical outreach to flourish.
Find the full job description and person specification here.
About the organ
The organ is a critical part of our worship at St. Paul’s and sits at the heart of a lively musical community with frequent concerts, recitals and choral services. Services are enriched by the singing of hymns and the sound of organ music within the liturgy. The church is proud of its musical tradition and the organ plays a vital role in the provision of music, prayer and spiritual contemplation.
In 1880, Forster and Andrews of Hull, the foremost organ builder in Northern England, built the organ for St Paul’s Church and it originally stood where the Lady Chapel is now located. In 1970 it was moved to its present location when the hall was divided from the church.
St. Paul’s has an example of the “High Victorian” organ as it was developed in the late nineteenth century for parish churches. A comparatively modest stop-list belies its great power and sonority based on a solid 8 foot foundation with bold diapason choruses, particularly well-suited to congregational accompaniment; contrasting with rich flutes on each manual. The swell reeds are powerful & enjoy all the benefits of a convincing pp-ff crescendo on a balanced swell pedal. Versatility is achieved by variously coupling the 3 divisions to achieve a variety of colours. Economic & population growth after 1850 lead to the production of thousands of such parish church organs up and down the country in an English organ building boom unmatched anywhere in the world other than the USA. Forster & Andrews were based in Hull (established by 2 organ builders trained by the London firm of Bishop) and were renowned as leading exponents of Victorian organ building in churches and municipal centres (e.g. West Bromwich Town Hall) in what we would now call the “northern powerhouse”. The firm was dissolved in 1956.
Apart from a few minor changes, the organ is almost untouched from its original design. This is rare and very few Forster and Andrews instruments survive in such a preserved state. As such, the organ is of significant heritage value, in addition to being high-quality musical instrument.
Application process
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Applications open Monday 3 August
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Applications close 23:59 Sunday 30 August
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Shortlisting: Tuesday 1 September
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Auditions & Interviews: By appointment, Sunday 6 – Sunday 20 September
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Appointment made: Monday 21 September
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Start date: ASAP thereafter, within four weeks
About St Paul’s
We are a parish church with a strong musical tradition, a supportive congregation, and a desire to see music flourish at the heart of our worshiping and community life. We recognise St Paul’s as a haven for reflection and worship. We recognise our dependence on God, and the need to return often to the basics of hearing God’s word and prayer, as we find our individual and collective stories welcomed into God’s larger story. At the centre we see the cross of Christ. We affirm our church’s prophetic role, calling one another and our culture to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. St Paul’s Church exists to help us all on our spiritual journey and to provide an engaging focus for community. We aim to attract and draw in diverse groups including young families to build a community of at least 100 regular worshippers, and reaching out to the wider community. We seek to be a haven for peaceful reflection and harmonious, beautiful worship to praise and give thanks to God, and by that encourage all to seek the will of God on their spiritual journey, through engaging and imaginative ways.
Safer Recruitment & Safeguarding
An enhanced DBS disclosure is required for this role.
St Paul’s, Clapham is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. The successful applicant will be expected to share this commitment. The appointment will be subject to satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check with barred list check (where applicable), together with any other safer recruitment requirements in line with the Church of England’s safeguarding policies.
Application Form
Click this link to fill in the application form.
In addition, you will need to email a copy of the Confidential Disclosure Form to Eleanor Kempsey, our Parish Safeguarding Officer: eleanor.dallman@gmail.com This document will only be opened if you are appointed to the role; all other forms will be deleted from our records.