The Capital Carolers are a Christmas caroling group. We go caroling at a variety of venues from 1 Dec thru 24 Dec in the Maryland, Northern Virginia, DC area. We pay singers $85 for a one hour gig and each gig usually has two to 4 singers but occasionally more. For longer gigs we pay $55 for the second contiguous hour and $30 for the third, so a three hour gig would pay $170. There is a 10 min break at the end of each hour for longer gigs but most events are one hour. We don’t guarantee a minimum total payment because it depends on the caroler's availability for gigs, the number of gigs we get and the number of singers in the group, but we try to ensure everyone gets at least $400. Last year the average pay for the singers was $1053 and the median pay $1034 but may be less this year. We will work around conflicts and providing you are willing to learn the music and rehearse with the group we do not require that you are available for any specific number of days during the performance period 1 to 24 Dec but the pay will depend on how much you are available, as that affects the number of gigs to which we can allocate you.
We are an equal opportunity organization and we encourage adults of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, racial and religious backgrounds to audition. You must be 18 years old or older. You must be willing to sing Carols, Hanukah songs, and other holiday music, and be a strong singer capable of holding your vocal part against other strong singers as most events are quartets, trios or duets. We do not provide transportation to gigs and some venues are not close to public transport so anyone interested would need their own transport or would be limited in the gigs in which they can perform and therefore the money they can earn. We do encourage ride sharing but that may not be available for many gigs. We also pay additional money for gas for events that require individuals to travel more than 50 miles one way and for certain gigs we will pay or contribute to tolls and parking.
For the 2024 season we will be auditioning singers in Oct in Maryland and Virginia, and we are looking mainly for tenor and bass/baritone voices. You will need to attend a minimum of 3 unpaid rehearsals in October/November and possibly more if needed. We normally try to set dates where most people can attend but not every rehearsal has to be attended there will be more than 3. We provide music, most of which is traditional Holiday songs/carols. Normally we ask people to learn one voice (Soprano, Alto, Tenor or Bass) well and be able to get by in another voice to provide some flexibility in assigning people to events, so a total of 80 parts to learn. This may sound daunting but anyone who has sung in a church choir would be familiar with most of the arrangements and we do sing with books so the songs do not have to be memorized. Also we have recordings of each vocal part for most pieces, to aid in learning and try to keep the same people for multiple years so learning the music is less of an issue after the first year.
If anyone is potentially interested in auditioning and wants more information, please contact Bernie Kellet.