Performing with Living Room Live

We are looking for classical musicians who enjoy playing concerts in intimate settings and interacting with guests. We think house concerts are the ideal venue for intimate live music, and while they are quite common in general, they are less so for classical music. Living Room Live was founded to make more happen, creating opportunities for performers and listeners of classical music in both rural and urban areas. As a house concert musician, you become part of a small community for the evening, chatting with guests during intermission and after, and talking about the music during the concert. Guests love watching and hearing the music being created close up. House concert tours are also an effective way to schedule classical music performances in small and/or remote communities as there are so few overhead costs, due to the generosity and dedication of many local volunteer hosts.

Touring

A tour is typically 12 concerts over 2 weeks. We ask hosts to bring in 20+ guests, at $20+ a ticket; ticket sales aren’t guaranteed, and tend to range from 12 to 40 with a tour average of a little over 20. Generally guests RSVP in advance and pay cash at the door which goes to the musicians; hosts are volunteers. After the tour, you submit a management fee of 15% of ticket sales to Living Room Live, so that we can continue finding more hosts and scheduling tour routes.

Hosts provide dinner and breakfast and a place to sleep. Lunch and all other travel costs are the responsibility of the musicians. Please work out the feasibility of any applicable costs, such as flights, car rental, gas, ferries, lunch and snacks, and dinner on break days, before you or your ensemble commits to a tour. Typically we schedule drives of four hours or less before a concert, and no more than six concerts in a row without a break. We’re happy to discuss adjustments to these details before booking.

We currently have BC South, BC North, and MB-SK tour routes. When you apply, you can indicate which route(s) you are interested in touring. There are three tours per season per route, Sept-Oct, Jan-Feb, and Apr-May.

Program

We invite soloists, duos, and trios to apply and are looking for a range of ensemble types and programs over a season. Concerts are typically 70 minutes of music in two sets, and we encourage interacting with the audience and talking about the music during the concert.

Application

Please include whatever you feel is necessary to give us a sense of you or your ensemble and how you would fit into our season. The program doesn’t need to be fully planned in order to apply, but you should give us some examples of what you might include. We aim to schedule a diverse combination of soloists and ensembles over a season of three tours.