Blue Christmas
The Elvis number, sung in harmony. Popular at office parties and drinks receptions, where it breaks up a set of traditional carols.
Hire carol singers
Professional singers for parties, receptions, and December events
Singers who arrive, sing carols where your guests are already standing, and leave you to run the rest of the evening. Bookings start with four voices and run up to twelve, sung unaccompanied, in offices, hotels, apartment lobbies, at switch-ons and markets, and at parties at home. London and across the UK.
This page covers hiring singers for a party, a reception, or a lobby. If you are planning a full service with readings and congregational carols, see Christmas carol services.
Musicians from the Royal Academy, Royal College, and Britain’s leading conservatoires.
How it works
1
Send us the date and the venue
Tell us when, where, roughly how many guests, and what the singers are meant to be doing. We come back with ensemble options and a written quote within 48 hours.
2
We build the sets
Luca chooses the carols, sets the running order, and agrees positioning, timings, and access with your venue or building manager.
3
The singers arrive and sing
They turn up in the dress you asked for, need nothing but somewhere to stand, and sing to the brief.
Where carol singers work
Most December bookings are office receptions and staff parties, where four singers work the room as people arrive and the drinks go round. Hotels book us for lobbies and festive afternoon teas. Towns and shopping streets book us for light switch-ons and Christmas markets. Managing agents book us for residents’ evenings and community events in apartment buildings, and families book us for parties at home.
The singers can roam through the crowd, stopping wherever a group has gathered, or stay in one position for sets of three or four carols. Roaming suits a drinks reception where guests arrive across an hour. Stationary sets suit a seated dinner, or a switch-on with a countdown to sing up to.
Everything is sung a cappella, so there is no stage to build, no power to find, and no PA to hire. Give the group a corner of a lobby or the foot of a staircase and they will fill the space. Outdoors is fine as well: markets, courtyards, and switch-ons are ordinary December work, though we will ask for cover from rain and somewhere warm to wait between sets.
Dress is your call. Concert dress for a formal evening, all black for a lobby set that should not draw the eye, ordinary clothes for a market, or Christmas jumpers if you want the singers to look like part of the party. We have Santa hats if you want them. You may know them as carollers (or carolers, in the American spelling); either way it is the same trained group.
The repertoire runs from the traditional carols everyone knows — Ding Dong Merrily on High, Silent Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing — through the quieter Advent pieces to a cappella arrangements of the popular Christmas songs people expect at a party. Tell us the tone you are after and Luca sets the running order against it.
We are based in London, and that is where most of the work sits: office lobbies in the City, hotels in Mayfair, receptions in Canary Wharf, residents’ evenings in the riverside buildings. We travel for the rest of the country too. Travel within Greater London is included in the price, and anything further is quoted with the booking.
Where the venue has a piano, you can book the choir with background piano between the sets: the pianist keeps the room from falling silent while the singers rest, then drops out as they come back in. If there is no piano, we can bring a keyboard and speaker for an extra charge, quoted upfront in your written quote. Neither is necessary. The singing stands on its own.
“The choir were the highlight of our Christmas drinks. They moved through the crowd singing carols and it completely transformed the atmosphere. Several clients have already asked if we’re doing it again next year.”
Who we work with
Some of the people who book carol singers have a page of their own, covering what each one asks about first.
Hear our musicians
The first recording is from a Christmas set. The hymns below it were taken from services we sang rather than from a carol programme, but they are the same singers and the same sound you would hear at a carol booking.
Be Thou My Vision
An eighth-century Irish text sung to the folk melody Slane. Especially beautiful in a choral setting with organ accompaniment.
Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer
The great Welsh hymn, sung to Cwm Rhondda. Written for a congregation in full voice, and it works exactly that way at a service.
All Things Bright and Beautiful
A hymn that celebrates the natural world. A favourite at carol services and seasonal gatherings.
Pricing
One figure, quoted in writing, covering the singers, the programme planning, and the coordination with your venue.
£1,150
Small Choir (4)
£1,600
Sextet
£2,000
Full Choir
£3,000
Chorus (12)
Four voices at £1,150 is where carol bookings start. Everything is sung a cappella, and four is the smallest group that holds the harmony without an instrument underneath it. Prices include all taxes, fees, and travel within Greater London, and we do not charge more at Christmas than at any other time of year. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day carry a premium, which we confirm in the written quote before you commit.
Further reading
Longer pieces on what carol singers cost, when December fills up, and how the bookings tend to work by venue.
How many carol singers you need
How much carol singers cost
When to book Christmas entertainment
Best Christmas carol singers
Booking carol singers: agency vs direct
A cappella Christmas songs
Music for a Christmas drinks reception
Outdoor carol singing
Christmas entertainment for hotels
Hosting a residents’ carol event
Frequently asked questions
How long do carol singers perform for?
A standard Christmas booking runs up to an hour and a half including breaks. That is usually three sets of twenty minutes or so, or continuous singing across a shorter reception. Longer bookings carry a premium, quoted upfront. Where the venue has a piano, a pianist can cover the gaps between the sets.
Do carol singers need microphones or amplification?
No. Trained voices carry a hotel lobby or a full office floor unamplified, so there is no stage to build, no PA to hire, and nothing to plug in. Put the singers where the ceiling is high and the floor is hard, such as a staircase, an atrium, or a gallery, and the sound reaches the whole room.
How many carol singers should we book for our venue?
Size the group to the space. Four singers suit a lobby, an office reception, or a room of up to 150. Six fill a mid-sized hall or a foyer with a steady hum; eight for a busy bar or a crowd talking across you. Eight cover a large hall or a church of 400, and twelve are for several hundred guests or a ticketed concert.
Can guests sing along or request a carol?
Yes to both. Song sheets on the well-known carols turn the last ten minutes into a singalong, which works particularly well at residents’ evenings and family parties. Requests are welcome where they sit within the repertoire. Send them a week or two ahead and Luca will place them in the sets.
Can carol singers perform outdoors in the cold?
Yes. Markets, courtyards, and light switch-ons are ordinary December work. We ask for cover from rain, since sheet music and wind do not mix, and somewhere warm to wait between sets. In hard frost we sing shorter sets more often rather than standing out for a solid hour.
What do carol singers wear?
Whatever suits your event. Concert dress for a formal evening, all black for a lobby set that should not draw the eye, ordinary clothes for a market or a family party, or Christmas jumpers if you want the singers to look festive. Santa hats are available if you ask for them.
Tell us about your event
Share a few details and we’ll come back to you with a proposal. We respond to every enquiry personally.
Thank you — we’ll be in touch shortly.
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We respond to every enquiry personally, usually within a few hours.