Welcome
Welcome to the St. James’s Brass and Reed Band website – the oldest band in Ireland and possibly Europe. Officially established in 1800 but early records trace back to as far as 1737.
St. James’s Band has participated in numerous events of historic importance, which included playing at the meetings of Daniel O’Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell. The band was invited to play at Parnell’s home in Avondale and later led his funeral to Glasnevin Cemetery. You can read more about the band on our history page.
St. James’s Band boasts a vast musical repertoire that ranges from overtures, selections, marches, and some of the most current popular tunes. View our upcoming performances.
If you are interested in learning an instrument or would like to join the band explore our JD Academy Band and New Members pages for more details. If you would like to hire the band get in touch.
Our conductor Kevin Corcoran is an acclaimed ensemble and solo percussionist with experience in classical, band and stage performances. In recent years he has begun the transition to conducting. Read more about Kevin here.
Next performances
Here are our next performances. Get in touch if you would like to hire us for your event.
We are looking forward to returning to Farmleigh the end of August but this time our performance will feature special guests, our JD Academy band. This will be the first official public performance for the JD Academy - not to ...
Our Senior band will return this year to compete in the Southern Ireland Band Championship which will take place in Clonakilty on the 6th July. Keep an eye out for us on the streets of Clonakilty as we will be ...
The band are delighted to be back at Richmond Barracks to perform at the community festival on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons in late May. Pop in to see us perform if you are local!
Social updates
If you have any questions you can connect with us on our social networks.
To anyone lucky enough to get tickets - have a ball! 🎶
Here is Arabian Dances by the St. James's Brass and Reed Band and the St. James's JD Academy Band. This piece features the fabulous River on Horn. Enjoy 🎶
Today was the first public gig for the St. James's JD Academy Band and the first time both bands played together. Thank you so much to all those came out and supported us today (despite the rain ☔️!).We'll be posting more pictures and videos throughout the week, so stay tuned!Thank you Farmleigh for having us again!
The St. James's JD Academy Band will be joining us, and so it promises to be a great event 🎶
We'll all be in Farmleigh from 2-4pm so come and join us to hear some Summer tunes 🎶
We're here till 9.30pm if you are in the area, come and join 🎶