It's a Philly Sing!
Singing City’s 2026-2027 Artistic Season will explore the Philadelphia voices, visionaries, events and changemakers
who have shaped our history and continue to influence our communities and our future. We invite you to be a part of the
Singing City community as not just an audience member, but also as an active participant in the stories we tell and the songs we sing.
Philadelphia Icons
Sunday, October 25th, 2026, 3:00 PM
Race Street Meetinghouse at Friends Center
Our fall concert will feature music that highlights the lives of five Philadelphia change agents who challenged injustice and fought for social change: anti-slavery abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Harriet Tubman; minister and composer Charles Albert Tindley; and vocal artists Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson. Repertoire for this performance includes Stand Up (from the movie “Harriet"), movements from Mendelssohn’s Elijah to be performed by internationally renowned mezzo-soprano and Philadelphia native Marietta Simpson, and the Philadelphia premiere of Here I Stand, composed by Carlos Simon and based on the life of bass-baritone Paul Robeson.
Philadelphia Premieres
Sunday, December 13th, 2026, 3:00PM
St. Augustine Catholic Church
Just a decade after the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
George Frideric Handel’s Messiah
received its first performance in the city of Philadelphia. Singing City will perform excerpts from this famous oratorio in the very neighborhood where it received its Philadelphia premiere 240 years ago. Selected movements will be designated for audience participation. In addition, Singing City will perform seasonal selections that celebrate a diversity of cultures and traditions.
Philadelphia Activists
Friday, March 5th, 2027, 7:30 PM
Saturday, March 6th, 2027, 3:00 PM
Temple Performing Arts Center
Through his collaborative partnership with Martin Luther King, Jr., West Chester native and civil rights activist
Bayard Rustin played a pivotal role in orchestrating a movement of non-violent resistance that would not only change the course of history but would also alter the quality of life for marginalized communities of color across the country. Singing City will join forces with
Philadelphia Voices of Pride,
Anna Crusis Feminist Choir, and
One Voice Choir of Minneapolis to perform
Steven Milloy’s narrated choral work entitled,
Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the Dream.
Philadelphia Poets
Sunday, May 2nd, 2027, 3:00 PM
Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral
In this final concert of the season, Singing City employs vocal music as a tool to amplify the powerful words of some of Philadelphia’s most celebrated poets:
Katherine Chapin, Walt Whitman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and
Sonia Sanchez. These writers offer inspiring words that shape our understanding of identity, justice, resilience, community and our shared humanity. Selections include
Joan Szymko’s
We Are All Bound Up Together,
William Grant Still’s
Plain-Chant for America, and excerpts from
Ralph Vaughn Williams’
Dona nobis pacem.
