James Kennerley, MA (Cantab.), FRCO

James Kennerley has been Organist and Music Director at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Times Square, since 2008. He has full responsibility for the church’s renowned music program, and its magnificent Aeolian-Skinner organ. In addition to directing the church’s professional choir, he is currently establishing a vibrant concert series as part of the church’s outreach program.

As an organist, Mr. Kennerley has performed at many of the major venues in Europe and the US, both as a soloist and accompanist, and has been a prizewinner at several competitions. At Saint Mary’s, he performs weekly on the church’s famous 1932 organ during services and concerts. Plans for 2010-11 include a presentation of Olivier Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur in January, collaborations with the Voices of Ascension and the major organ works of Bach during Lent. Mr. Kennerley has studied with David Sanger, Thomas Trotter and McNeil Robinson, and holds the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists diploma.

Mr. Kennerley made his New York conducting debut at Lincoln Center in 2009 in two performances of a contemporary operetta, The Velvet Oratorio, which was received to great acclaim by press and audience alike; he is increasingly in demand as a conductor in addition to his work within the liturgy at Saint Mary’s.

As a singer (tenor voice), Mr. Kennerley has performed with many groups, including concerts with the choir of Trinity, Wall Street, and Clarion Music Society, where he recently performed as part of the rededication of the organ at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.  He has studied with Robert Rice, David Lowe and Braeden Harris. Highlights for 2010 include performing as part of the Green Mountain repeat presentation of Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers at Saint Mary’s, along with many of the finest early music artists from the East Coast, and performances of Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, New York City.

A native of the United Kingdom, Mr. Kennerley was born in 1984 and became a chorister of Chelmsford Cathedral. He was educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar at Jesus College.  He was then appointed Organ Scholar of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, where he worked daily with the choir of men and boys under the direction of Malcolm Archer, and had the honor of performing in the presence of HM the Queen on several occasions.

Prior to his appointment at Saint Mary’s, Mr. Kennerley was Associate Director of Music and Director of the Choir of Men and Boys at Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut, where he had been working since September 2006.  There, he directed the choirs on two successful tours to England, and established an organ recital series, now in its fifth year.

The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is home to one of the great and genuinely influential liturgical music programs in North America and to one of North America’s finest organs. Its church building provides an extraordinary liturgical space for worship and an almost unparalleled acoustic for choral and organ music. Great music is fundamental to the primary mission of this congregation: the worship of Almighty God.

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