In Harmony

With Liberty and Justice for All: Program Notes by S. Chestnut

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:07:43 GMT

With Liberty and Justice for All: Program Notes by S. Chestnut

As Singing City brings its season to a close, we invite you to join us for our final concert, With Liberty and Justice for All, on May 3 at 3:00 p.m. at the Temple Performing Arts Center. Led by Artistic & Music Director Rollo Dilworth and featuring more than 100 voices, the program is anchored by a powerful performance of Damien Geter’s 1619, weaving together music, text, and multimedia to examine the promises and complexities of liberty and justice in America. In preparation for the concert, we invite you to explore the program notes below by S. Chestnut. Click here for tickets and information.

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

— from Benjamin Franklin’s 1755 letter on beha lf of the Pennsylvania Assembly during a wartime tax dispute over defense.

This aphorism traces to Benjamin Franklin’s final attempt to negotiate colonial grievances as subjects of the Crown. It offers insight into the “American” disposition, predicting that if royal mandates continued to ignore the liberties required within any “just” practice of government, colonists would eventually choose to “suffer all the hazards and mischiefs of war” rather than surrender those rights.

Franklin’s warning proved prophetic. War did ensue. And yet this intrinsic aspect of the American character re-emerged, undiluted, a few years later in the thick of the conflict:

“With European soldiers, I say ‘do’ and they do. With American soldiers, I must first tell them why they do, and only then do they obey.” — Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, training attaché to George Washington, 1778

Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was a minor Prussian aristocrat (who spoke no English), imported to equip untrained citizens against a professional military. During his tenure, the encampment at Valley Forge saw many soldiers in rags, defenseless against the awful winter. Unshod, bloody footprints marked the snowy parade ground. And yet, with strict military discipline the only way forward, obedience was not a given. Their sense of rebellion was as visceral as frostbite. Huddled, mustered sufferers understood that their fight required vigilant, on-the-spot assessment of all imperatives, regardless of immediate benefit.

Such was the founding population that transitioned itself from a defiant colony to a nation-state that claims liberty and justice as its pledge and aegis.

However, the proper balancing of sovereignty and liberty, justice and comfort, remains a challenge.

Our concert offers a path through this dilemma, organized into four categories for reflection:

1) Sobriety and Humility

We begin with Ysaÿe Bramwell’s cautionary hymn “ Spiritual ,” which reminds us how precious and precarious any day’s journey might be. Though written in a minor key, it is not designed for sadness, but to invoke sober resistance to arrogance and presumptions of personal or cultural longevity.

These themes re-emerge throughout, within Randall Thompson’s “ God Who Gave Us Life” and Margaret Bonds’ “ I Believe in the Prince of Peace ,” cautioning us to choose those who embody grace, not force, as leaders.

2) Public Penance

The centrality of enslavement to the question of American democracy is demonstrated in this quote offered by Abraham Lincoln during a series of debates that laid the groundwork for his successful presidential campaign in 1860. He frames the issue as more than an exercise in “popular sovereignty,” but as a universal touchpoint central to all considerations of justice.

“It is the eternal struggle between two principles, right and wrong, throughout the world. It is the same spirit that says, ‘You toil and work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.’ No matter in what shape it comes… it is the same tyrannical principle.”

— Lincoln-Douglas debates, October 15, 1858

To this end, Singing City offers Damien Geter’s 1619 as the centerpiece of our program, outlining the dynamics of capture and enslavement through first-hand accounts of Africans. The composer “walks” us from West African shorelines, where vibrant people(s) were lured from curiosity to trust and then kidnapped. The work culminates in a stark account of pernicious social outcomes that persist to this day, allowing select humans to preempt the lives and livelihoods of others.

Dim stuff, but surprisingly, Geter’s score rejects a minor-key perspective on the matter. This is most strikingly demonstrated in the melodically sprightly third movement, “ Dance .” It offers a detailed first-generation narrative naming two family predecessors, Goerge and Nellie, who transferred memories of their origins to offspring. Chronicling craven deception, a startling awakening amidship, irreversible abduction “with water all around,” Dance offers an intimate portrait of a transition from homeland life, where protection and privilege were birthrights, to culture which ripped liberty and justice from their very identities. offering an intimate portrait of a transition from homeland life, where protection and privilege were birthrights, to a culture that stripped liberty and justice from their very identities.

An excerpt from the Justice Choir Songbook songbook closes out this half of the program with Elizabeth Alexander’s “This is What Democracy Looks Like” raising a retort to those outcomes.

3) Raising Resolve

Snappy retorts flash through the program. The second half opens with “ Water Fountain” (Brenner and Garbus), which sets an incisive map of social compromise within a deceptively engaging format.

“United in Purpose ,” “ Song of the Revolution ,” and “ Let Peace and Justice Lead the Way” (Dilworth) expand on this theme, simultaneously supplying energy for the struggle.

4) Common Ground

First Nations people aside, most of us can trace our presence on the North American continent to some program of immigration. Remembering the intimate details of those transitions is crucial to a balanced understanding of liberty and justice. Those migrations hold the record from which we must discern consequences and correct history’s missteps.

Irvin Berlin’s beloved setting of the Emma Lazarus poem, “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,” gives a very gentle view of American largesse. And yet that invitation to immigrants has been redrafted, compromised, and withdrawn at crucial moments. Especially when new presences seem poised to overwhelm “native born” comfort and cultural primacy.

It is therefore fitting to conclude our concert with two works written in languages that most of us neither speak nor understand but attest the universality and fragility of our founding principles. Each work embraces questionable arrival history as birthright and springboard for new relationships. It is crucial that these musing are offered raw; this transports mainstream speakers to that moment when our own forebearers arrived as aliens, harboring strange tongues and hoping for future.

Translation proves the universality of the project. Both Tracy Wong’s “Bersatu Senada” (Together with Voice), and Dyan Tran’s “Luôn Luôn” (Always) signal us to listen with unprivileged ears as others declare the universality of creeds which we have called our own.

Justice and Liberty are always a tricky pairing. Less sanguine drives are always poised to redistribute freedom to the advantage of (s)elect few. When anyone is excluded from the basic considerations of civility, fault lines erupt into bloody civil conflicts. Casualties pile in familiar patterns around us.

We’ve seen this again and again. And yet history has endowed our nation with an extraordinary identity, a tenacious capacity for uplift, and an audacity to test ideals that are just as unproven as constitutional democracy was to this nation’s founders.

Whether a reviled religious sect, seeking a new landscape to practice, whether native peoples pressing to retain their footprints on land walked for eons by their ancestors, whether those fleeing from tribal conflict, tyrants starvation and brutal renditions of various kinds, we all sojourn in pursuit of liberty and peace which provisions our wellbeing and offers participation in life’s best offerings.

It is that legacy which we deserve to celebrate 250 years later. It is a challenge we should be proud to embrace.

Again, Abraham Lincoln said it well.

“Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. ...The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.

— (excerpted from Lincoln’s Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862)

Honoring Helmut Rilling

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 20:47:48 GMT

Helmut Rilling and Singing City: a legacy of discipline, humanity, and transformation

Photo: Opus Arts

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Helmut Rilling earlier this year. For Singing City, his loss is deeply felt—not only because of his stature in the world of music, but because of the profound and lasting relationship he shared with our choir.

In the days following the news, we reached out to members of the Singing City community who had the opportunity to work with him across the decades. What follows are their words—memories of artistry, discipline, and the unique humanity he brought to the podium.

Few conductors have shaped the modern understanding of Johann Sebastian Bach as profoundly as Rilling. Born in 1933 in Stuttgart, he built an international reputation as a conductor, scholar, and teacher. His work with the Gächinger Kantorei and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart helped define a generation of Bach performance, while his leadership of the Oregon Bach Festival made a lasting impact in the United States.

His relationship with Elaine Brown and Singing City was both artistically and personally significant. Rilling later wrote the foreword to Singing City: Music and Social Change in America by Dorothy Hollis—a reflection of the deep respect he held for Elaine Brown’s vision and the ensemble she created.

Photo: Singing City archives

A conductor of quiet authority

Singer Mark Hollern recalls the preparation for the Mass in B Minor in 2002 as a defining experience:

“I had not really heard of Rilling before and I heard a little bit about the B Minor Mass… so it was a big deal to know we were going to do this monumental work with one of the world’s preeminent Bach experts.”

After months of preparation, the first rehearsals with Rilling revealed something unexpected:

“The rehearsals were not intense. Rilling was very happy with our preparation and gave few clarifications. He was not a prima donna.

He was very much a kind, affable, warm, quiet, shy guy, as I recall, who just knew the material.”

What stood out most was his clarity and depth of understanding:

“He knew what he wanted and then instructed us very clearly… I would say he projected humility. He was a teacher.”

And the scale of the work itself left a lasting impression:

“It was quite an accomplishment because it’s a mountain top to climb—challenging music and a long performance and in my memory, one of the most significant things that I’ve done while with Singing City.”

Mutual respect and artistic partnership

For Ted Moon, the experience of working with Rilling was defined by respect and shared purpose:

“Rehearsing and performing under Rilling was a thrill. There was a feeling of tremendous mutual respect - he understood who we were and what we stood for, and respected the choir's excellence.”

He also reflected on Rilling’s collaboration with Elaine Brown:

“His interactions with Elaine Brown seemed just what one would expect - two consummate professionals working to create wonder and beauty.”

And on the musical impact of those performances:

“His understanding of Bach's Mass in B Minor and what he created with the orchestra and the choir, in 1982, was one of the most awe-inspiring musical experiences of my life.”

Photo: Singing City archives

Transformation on the podium

Longtime singer Beth Johnson offers perhaps the most vivid portrait of Rilling’s dual nature:

“Always, my initial impression of him was of a soft-spoken, gentle man, who knew exactly what he wanted of every word, Latin or German.”

His expectations were exacting, but never harsh:

“He wanted staccato, lifts, lightness, straight tone,—in other words—very demanding, but in a nice way. I’ve never sung under another orchestral conductor who was so invested in the choral part.”

And then, in performance, everything changed:

“From the downbeat, one could watch him morph into a wide-eyed, larger-than-life wild thing! And we were thereby transformed as well.”

The result was unforgettable:

“He pulled unforgettable performances from us. We were left totally exhausted, proud, thrilled and so very very fortunate!”

A lasting legacy

Across decades of performances—from the Academy of Music to Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church—Helmut Rilling challenged Singing City to meet the highest artistic standards while remaining deeply human in the process.

These reflections remind us that his legacy is not only found in recordings or critical acclaim, but in the lived experiences of the singers he inspired.

As we reflect on his passing, we honor Helmut Rilling in the way that feels most true to his impact on Singing City: by remembering, by sharing these stories, and by continuing to make music with the same care, humility, and commitment to excellence that he brought to every rehearsal and every performance.

Janet Yamron Has Always Carried the Song Forward

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:24:24 GMT

Janet Yamron Has Always Carried the Song Forward

By Michael Bolton, Executive Director

The first time I met Singing City's members as its incoming Executive Director, I was told that Janet Yamron would remember me. I was doubtful. The last time I saw Janet was probably 1990. Physically, I’d changed significantly from the skinny teenager to the not-so-skinny, completely bald man in his late 50s that I am now. The one thing in common I still have with my younger self is a distinctive speaking voice and facial hair.

Singing in a Temple University choir that Janet directed, I remember her as tough, demanding (in all the right ways), and, at about 5'3", possessing a truly towering presence. At the time, I found her intimidating, both as a conductor and as Temple University’s Assistant Dean. Getting to know her again now, I see something more: a woman who is as charming and insightful as she is exacting, and still as passionate about choral singing as ever.

Sure enough, after I said my hello and stepped out of the rehearsal so that our Artistic and Music Director, Rollo A. Dilworth, could begin, Janet approached me and said, “Excuse me… Do I know you?” I assured her that she did.

There was a pause, a careful look, and then recognition. Not immediate, but genuine. The kind that comes from someone who has spent a lifetime truly seeing people.

And in that moment, I was reminded that the formidable presence I remembered was only part of the story. It is that instinct that has defined Janet Yamron’s extraordinary legacy.

Now 93 years old, Janet has been part of Singing City since the 1950s, when she was recruited into the organization by its visionary founder, Elaine Brown, and worked alongside her. That connection alone places her at the very heart of Singing City’s history. But Janet did not simply witness that history, she helped shape it. She often credits Elaine Brown as a teacher and mentor who pushed her, shaping not only her musicianship but her sense of purpose, and who later became a trusted friend. As a longtime member of the choir and later as a member of its Board of Directors, she has given decades of leadership, insight, and unwavering commitment to the organization’s mission.

For those of us who studied with her, Janet set a standard. Rehearsals were focused. Expectations were clear. Musicality mattered, but so did discipline, preparation, and respect for the ensemble. She demanded your best because she believed you were capable of it, even when you weren’t so sure yourself.

Over time, what becomes even clearer is that the rigor was never the point. It was the vehicle. Beneath it was a deep belief in people, in community, and in the power of music to connect us to something larger than ourselves.

That belief is woven into Singing City’s DNA, and it lives on in everything we do today.

It is also why honoring Janet at this year’s “Carrying the Song Forward” celebration feels so profoundly right. The phrase

speaks to continuity, to stewardship, and to the idea that each generation builds upon the work of those who came before.

Few embody that idea more completely than Janet Yamron. She is, in every sense, a living bridge between Singing City’s founding era and its future.

In preparing to celebrate her, I have been struck by how many people share a story similar to mine. They may not remember every piece of repertoire or every rehearsal detail, but they remember how Janet made them feel: challenged, supported, seen, and ultimately transformed.

That is a rare and lasting gift.

For me, it comes back to that brief exchange at rehearsal. After decades, after so many changes, Janet still paused to ask, to look, and to connect the dots. That instinct to recognize, to remember, and to care is at the heart of her legacy.

And it is exactly what it means to carry the song forward.

To honor Janet Yamron is to honor a lifetime of music, mentorship, and community. It is also a chance for all of us to take part in that legacy.

This year’s annual celebration, Carrying the Song Forward , is more than an event. It is an opportunity to gather, reflect, and ensure that Singing City continues to do the work that Janet has modeled for decades: bringing people together through the power of choral singing.

I hope you will join us for Carrying the Song Forward .

Saturday, April 11
4:00–7:00 PM
Arch Street Meeting House

Your presence, your support, and your belief in this work help ensure that the song continues, for generations to come. Get your tickets today and we look forward to seeing you there to celebrate Janet and Singing City.

Connecting Dreams to the World: Dreamline and Dream Keeper

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:59:12 GMT

Connecting Dreams to the World: Dreamline and Dream Keeper

One of the most meaningful aspects of Singing City’s upcoming Dream Keeper concerts on March 14 and 15 is the opportunity to collaborate with organizations that share our belief that every voice matters. Among those partners is Dreamline , a remarkable global initiative that invites young people to imagine a better world and share their dreams with others.

Dreamline began in a classroom.

Its founder, Jeffrey Harlan, spent more than thirty years as an educator. Early in his teaching career, he wanted to help his students think beyond themselves and connect meaningfully with people whose lives and experiences were different from their own. What began as a classroom project quickly revealed something powerful. When students are invited to reflect on their hopes for the future and express them creatively, their voices carry wisdom, compassion, and imagination.

That classroom idea grew into what is now the Dreamline Global Program.

Today, Dreamline has engaged more than 160,000 students in 55 countries. The program connects students across geographic, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries through a simple but powerful process. Students reflect on their values and dreams for change, then create a Dream Banner. Each banner is a piece of cloth where students express their hopes through words and artwork.

These individual banners are then attached together on a line called a Dreamline.

The Dreamline itself becomes both a physical and symbolic representation of connection. Each banner is the same size. Each voice is given the same space. When the banners are linked together, they form a collective expression of hope. The message is simple but profound. We pursue our dreams together.

Dreamline’s inspiration traces back to the poetry of Langston Hughes, whose work often centered on the power of dreams and the resilience of the human spirit. In particular, Hughes’ poem The Dream Keeper provided the spark that launched the program. Its famous line, “Bring me all of your dreams, you dreamers,” became the invitation that opened the door for students to share their visions for a better world.

This connection makes Dreamline a natural partner for the Dream Keeper concert, which celebrates the life and legacy of Langston Hughes through music, poetry, and spoken word.

For the March 14 performance, Dreamline is working with five Philadelphia schools to bring the voices of students directly into the concert experience. More than 200 students in grades 2 through 12 are participating in the project. The schools represent a wide cross section of the city, including public, charter, and independent schools. Many of the participating teachers are members of the Singing City Chorus.

Each student will create a Dream Banner reflecting their hopes for the future .

Following the concert, these banners will be displayed at the reception so that audience members can walk among them and experience the collective dreams of Philadelphia’s young people. Seeing hundreds of individual visions placed side by side becomes a powerful reminder of the hope, imagination, and compassion that young people bring to our communities.

The students will also participate directly in the performance.

During a musical setting of Hughes’ poem "The Dream Keeper," representative students from each participating school will step forward to read their Dream Banners aloud. As the choir sings in the background, the students’ voices will share their dreams with the audience, creating a moment where poetry, music, and lived experience come together in real time. It promises to be one of the most moving moments of the evening.

At its heart, Dreamline reflects the same values that have guided Singing City for more than seventy-five years. Both organizations believe in the power of community, the importance of belonging, and the idea that every individual voice carries value.

By bringing Dreamline into the Dream Keeper concert, those values become visible and audible in a powerful way. The dreams of young people will stand alongside the poetry of Langston Hughes and the music of the choir, creating an intergenerational experience rooted in hope.

Dream Keeper will be presented by Singing City on March 14 and 15 in collaboration with Lyric Fest and several community partners.

Tickets and more information are available at https://www.singingcity.org/dreamkeeper .

Singing City: Next Generation

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:44:09 GMT

Growing the next generation of voices in Philadelphia

Singing City has always believed that choral music can bring people together across difference, strengthen community, and help individuals discover the power of their own voices. That belief now takes a new and vibrant form through Singing City: Next Generation , a free, non-auditioned youth choir program designed to expand access to high-quality choral music education for young people across Philadelphia.

At its heart, Singing City: Next Generation places young people at the center of a welcoming, inclusive musical experience. Participants engage in vocal technique, ensemble singing, musical literacy, and collaborative performance in an environment where curiosity, growth, and self-expression are encouraged. Whether a student is singing in a choir for the first time or arriving with prior experience, every voice is valued equally.

“This program is about creating a space where young people feel safe taking risks,” says Youth Choir Director Kendra Balmer. “When students realize they can try something new without fear of judgment, their confidence grows quickly. You see it not just in how they sing, but in how they carry themselves and support one another.”

Singing City: Next Generation builds on nearly a decade of youth choral work in Philadelphia. The program began in 2016 as Teen Voices of the City Ensemble, or T-VOCE, and grew through partnerships that brought together young singers from across the city. Following recent transitions, Singing City assumed sole stewardship of the program and intentionally reimagined its structure to better meet the realities of youth and family life today.

The result is a flexible, residency-based model that allows students to participate through shorter four-, six-, or twelve-week modules. This approach removes many of the barriers that can make long-term commitments difficult, while still offering meaningful artistic depth and continuity over time.

“For young people, consistency matters, but so does flexibility,” says Artistic and Music Director Rollo A. Dilworth . “Singing City: Next Generation honors both. It gives students the chance to grow musically while also understanding that their lives are complex. That balance is essential if we want choral music to truly serve the community.”

Singing City: Next Generation was recently highlighted on 6abc Action News, bringing citywide attention
to a program rooted in access, belonging, and the power of young voices coming together in song.
The segment captures what we see every week in rehearsal: young people
building confidence, community, and joy through music.

Watch the 6abc segment below.

Singing City: Next Generation is a free, non-auditioned youth choir open to young people across Philadelphia.
No prior musical experience is required — just curiosity, commitment, and a willingness to sing together.

If you know a young person who would thrive in a welcoming, supportive choral community,
we invite you to learn more and join us. Learn more and sign up for Singing City: Next Generation!

A defining feature of the program is its intergenerational focus. Youth participants regularly rehearse and perform alongside Singing City’s adult chorus, allowing them to see themselves as part of a larger artistic tradition. These shared experiences foster mentorship, mutual respect, and a powerful sense of belonging.

Through repertoire and rehearsal conversations, students are also introduced to Singing City’s mission as a socially conscious vocal movement. Music becomes not only an artistic practice, but a way to explore ideas of community, civic responsibility, and collective voice.

“For me, this is deeply personal,” says Executive Director Michael Bolton . “I was part of the founding of T-VOCE years ago, and to now see it take flight within Singing City is incredibly meaningful. What started as an idea about giving young people a place to sing has grown into something much bigger. This program is about helping young people understand that their voices matter, and that they belong in the cultural life of this city.”

A cornerstone of Singing City: Next Generation is its partnership with Temple Music Prep and Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance . Through rehearsals and residencies on campus, participants gain exposure to a collegiate arts environment, often for the first time. These experiences help demystify higher education, build confidence, and expand young people’s sense of what is possible.

In addition to its residency programs, Singing City: Next Generation includes Love City Sings, a free, citywide youth choral convening that brings together students from schools and community programs across Philadelphia for a day of collective music-making. Designed as an inclusive, non-competitive experience, Love City Sings emphasizes aural-oral learning, collaboration, and shared artistic exploration, reinforcing pride, connection, and joy through song.

Through Singing City: Next Generation, young people gain more than musical skills. They gain confidence, community, and a sense of belonging within a living, intergenerational choral tradition. By centering youth voices and adapting to the realities of their lives, Singing City continues its long-standing commitment to lifting the human spirit and shaping a Philadelphia where every voice has a place.

Programs like Singing City: Next Generation are made possible entirely through philanthropy. There is no tuition, no audition, and no cost to participate — which means community support is essential to sustaining and growing this work.

A gift of any size helps ensure that young people across Philadelphia continue to have access to a meaningful choral experience where they are seen, heard, and valued. Click here to support programming like this and make a different in a young person's life.

Supporting Those Who Support Singing City

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 13:35:23 GMT

Meet the businesses that help make our work possible

Behind every Singing City concert is a community of supporters who make our work possible—not only the singers on stage, but the organizations, businesses, and individuals who choose to stand with us through program advertising.

This season, we are proud to recognize and celebrate those advertisers on our website . Their support helps sustain Singing City’s concerts, education programs, and community initiatives throughout the year, and we are grateful for the many ways they invest in our mission.

We invite you to take a moment to explore our advertisers page and learn more about the people and organizations who support Singing City. Whether they provide essential services, creative expertise, healthcare, financial guidance, or moments of joy and well-being, these partners play an important role in strengthening our broader community.

When you visit their websites, engage their services, or simply share their work with others, you help sustain the ecosystem that allows Singing City to thrive. Supporting our advertisers is one meaningful way to support the choir itself.

Thank you for being part of the Singing City community—and for supporting those who support the music we share together.

From Click to Concert: A Better Ticketing Experience

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 17:13:45 GMT

A new ticketing experience at Singing City - thanks to Humanitix.

At Singing City, we’re always looking for ways to make coming to a concert feel easy, welcoming, and stress-free — starting with tickets. That’s why we use the Humanitix online ticketing system for our performances.

For our audiences, online ticketing means convenience and clarity. Right after you purchase, you’ll receive an order confirmation email with a QR code that links to your order on Humanitix — so you can quickly pull up your details anytime.

Then, a few days before the concert, you’ll receive a helpful reminder email with everything you need for a great night out: event details, suggested parking locations, and even ideas for where to dine before or after the performance. That reminder will also include your actual tickets, with individual QR codes for each ticket. When you arrive at the venue, our team will scan those ticket QR codes and get you on your way smoothly.

And if technology ever lets you down — no worries. If you can’t find your email or your phone dies at the worst possible moment, we’ve got you covered. We always have a seat book at the venue with a list of all ticket purchasers, so we can check you in and make sure you’re taken care of.

Using an online ticketing platform is also a big help behind the scenes. It allows Singing City to manage attendance more efficiently, reduce paper waste, and better understand who’s joining us for each concert — helping us plan thoughtfully and communicate clearly with our community. Just as importantly, it lets our staff focus less on logistics and more on what matters most: creating meaningful musical experiences and welcoming every audience member through the door.

We chose Humanitix because the mission fits: a ticketing system designed to serve people,
making concert night easier, and directing fees toward human-centered causes beyond the hall.

We also appreciate that our choice of ticketing partner reflects who we are as an organization. Humanitix was founded as an experiment in compassionate capitalism — a belief that business can serve people and the planet, not just profit. Instead of keeping booking fees, Humanitix redirects them toward education, healthcare, and other human-centered causes around the world. That commitment to using systems thoughtfully and ethically aligns closely with Singing City’s own mission to bring people together, invest in humanity, and create experiences that strengthen community through music. Choosing Humanitix allows us to extend that impact beyond the concert hall, turning a simple ticket purchase into something that quietly does a little good in the world.

You can try it out yourself by purchasing tickets to our upcoming concert, Dream Keeper: The Life, Letters, and Lyrics of Langston Hughes . This special program is presented in collaboration with Lyric Fest and Dreamline , bringing together choral music, art song, spoken word, and original student writing in a powerful celebration of Hughes’s legacy.

Learn more about Dream Keeper: The Life, Letters, and Lyrics of Langston Hughes and purchase tickets here .

Celebrating Langston Hughes' 125th anniversary.

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:11:07 GMT

A Living Legacy Comes to Life Onstage

This March, Singing City presents Dream Keeper: The Life, Letters, and Lyrics of Langston Hughes , a concert that brings poetry, music, and community into close conversation. Created in collaboration with the imaginative and wonderfully talented team at Lyric Fest , the program offers an eclectic exploration of the great American writer’s life and legacy through choral music, art song, narration, and spoken word. Together, these elements reveal why Hughes remains not only a towering literary figure, but a profoundly human voice—wry, searching, tender, and hopeful.

A central feature of the Saturday, March 14 Family Concert is Singing City’s collaboration with Dreamline , a Philadelphia-based organization that empowers young people to express their dreams through writing and storytelling. Students from Philadelphia schools participating in Dreamline’s programs will share original texts inspired by Langston Hughes’s poetry, placing contemporary youth voices in direct dialogue with Hughes’s words and ideals. This partnership underscores the concert’s focus on listening across generations and honoring creativity as a shared civic practice.

The March 14 performance also marks the performance debut of Singing City: Next Generation , the organization’s reimagined youth choir program. Led by conductor and music educator Kendra Balmer , young singers will join the program onstage, embodying Singing City’s belief that choral music is most powerful when it connects voices across age, experience, and background. Their participation affirms the concert’s theme of legacy not as something inherited passively, but as something actively carried forward.

The Family Concert takes place at the Friends Center , a setting that holds particular resonance for Singing City as it is deeply aligned with the values that gave rise to Singing City itself. The choir was founded in 1948 out of Philadelphia’s Fellowship movement, rooted in ideals of shared humanity, social responsibility, and bringing people together across difference—principles that continue to guide Singing City’s work today. Those attending on March 14 are welcome to join a post-program community reception.

A second performance takes place on Sunday, March 15, offering audiences another opportunity to experience Dream Keeper in a concert setting focused on reflection and listening at Episcopal Cathedral. Together, the two performances invite audiences of all ages to engage with Hughes’s words as living texts—spoken, sung, and reimagined in sound.

This concert also sits within a much longer historical relationship between Singing City and Langston Hughes. That story—rooted in the choir’s archives and a landmark 1960 Philadelphia appearance by Hughes—is explored in greater depth in a companion post in In Harmony, Singing City’s space for reflection and history.

Dream Keeper: The Life, Letters, and Lyrics of Langston Hughes is presented on:

Saturday, March 14, 2026, Family Concert
Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia

Sunday, March 15, 2026

Episcopal Cathedral, 19 S 38th St Philadelphia

Tickets and full program details are available at singingcity.org . The March 14 Intergenerational Concert is especially designed to welcome young listeners, families, and community members for whom Hughes’s words continue to resonate as a source of imagination, dignity, and hope.

When Langston Hughes worked with Singing City.

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 22:15:18 GMT

A Living Legacy: Langston Hughes and Singing City

In March, Singing City continues a long and meaningful relationship with the words and legacy of Langston Hughes through a special collaboration with Lyric Fest, Dream Keeper: The Life, Letters, and Lyrics of Langston Hughes . Singing City’s Artistic and Music Director Rollo Dilworth curated the program in collaboration with Lyric Fest’s Founder and Artistic Directors Suzanne DuPlantis and Laura Ward , shaping a concert that explores Hughes’s life, letters, and poetry through music, narration, and song.

The program draws on Singing City’s longstanding commitment to socially engaged repertoire and to amplifying American voices whose work speaks powerfully to issues of identity, justice, and community. Lyric Fest brings its distinctive expertise in biographical storytelling, creating programs that place words and music in close conversation and invite audiences to experience writers as living, complex individuals rather than historical abstractions.

This collaboration also resonates deeply with Singing City’s own history. The choir first celebrated the work of Langston Hughes in May 1960, when it participated in a Philadelphia concert titled “An Evening with Langston Hughes and the Singing City Choir.” Presented under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Leon H. Sullivan of Zion Baptist Church, the program featured Hughes reading his own poetry alongside choral works performed by Singing City under the direction of Elaine Brown. Materials from this historic concert are preserved in Singing City’s archives at Temple University, reflecting the ensemble’s early and sustained engagement with American poets and composers. The program, preserved in our archives, can be seen below.

During that 1960 visit, Hughes stayed at the historic Bellevue-Stratford Hotel on Broad Street, then a hub for artists, civic leaders, and visiting dignitaries. Archival records detail his travel and lodging expenses—small, human details that bring this moment in Singing City’s history vividly to life.

The Dream Keeper collaboration builds on that legacy while offering contemporary audiences a renewed opportunity to engage directly with Hughes’s voice. Listeners can still hear Hughes read and reflect on his own work in recordings he made for the Library of Congress in 1959, where his warmth, humor, and insight underscore the enduring relevance of his poetry.

By revisiting Langston Hughes’s words in the present day, Singing City affirms a throughline that spans generations—connecting its past to its present artistic vision, and reaffirming the power of choral music to carry poetry, history, and collective experience forward.

We welcome you to attend Dream Keeper: The Life, Letters, and Lyrics of Langston Hughes . Click here for more information or visit Humanitix to purchase tickets.

A place to learn more about Singing City!

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 22:12:10 GMT

Welcome to In Harmony

Singing City has always believed that choral music is more than performance. It is a way of listening, of gathering, and of making
meaning together across time, experience, and community. In Harmony is an extension of that belief.

In Harmony is Singing City’s space for sharing stories, context, and reflections from across our work. Here you’ll find insights into upcoming concerts and programs, educational content that explores the music and poetry we perform, and perspectives from guest writers whose voices add depth and dimension to our artistic life. We’ll also share fascinating discoveries from Singing City’s archives—moments, documents, and stories that continue to inform who we are today.

At its core, harmony is about relationship. In choral music, harmony emerges when individual voices listen closely to one another, adjusting and responding in real time to create something richer than any single line alone. That same idea lies at the heart of Singing City’s mission: bringing choral music into the community as a shared experience, one that values connection, empathy, and collective expression. In Harmony reflects this belief, offering a space where many voices—past and present, artistic and civic—can be heard together.

This blog is also a practical resource for staying connected. In Harmony will include updates about auditions, volunteer opportunities, and ways to engage with Singing City beyond the concert hall, alongside reflections on collaborations, community partnerships, and new initiatives. Some posts will look ahead, others will look back, and many will do both at once.

The name In Harmony reflects more than sound. It speaks to alignment—between past and present, between artists and audiences, and among the many voices that come together through Singing City’s work. Whether exploring historical context, introducing new projects, or offering a closer look at how choral music functions as a civic and artistic practice, In Harmony invites readers to pause, listen more closely, and dig deeper.

We invite you to return here often—to read, reflect, and stay informed as Singing City continues its work of bringing people together through song.

In Harmony

With Liberty and Justice for All: Program Notes by S. Chestnut

With Liberty and Justice for All: Program Notes by S. Chestnut

Honoring Helmut Rilling

Helmut Rilling and Singing City: a legacy of discipline, humanity, and transformation

Janet Yamron Has Always Carried the Song Forward

Janet Yamron Has Always Carried the Song Forward

Connecting Dreams to the World: Dreamline and Dream Keeper

Connecting Dreams to the World: Dreamline and Dream Keeper

Singing City: Next Generation

Growing the next generation of voices in Philadelphia

Watch the 6abc segment below.

Singing City: Next Generation is a free, non-auditioned youth choir open to young people across Philadelphia. No prior musical experience is required — just curiosity, commitment, and a willingness to sing together.

If you know a young person who would thrive in a welcoming, supportive choral community, we invite you to learn more and join us. Learn more and sign up for Singing City: Next Generation!

Supporting Those Who Support Singing City

Meet the businesses that help make our work possible

From Click to Concert: A Better Ticketing Experience

A new ticketing experience at Singing City - thanks to Humanitix.

We chose Humanitix because the mission fits: a ticketing system designed to serve people, making concert night easier, and directing fees toward human-centered causes beyond the hall.

Celebrating Langston Hughes' 125th anniversary.

A Living Legacy Comes to Life Onstage

When Langston Hughes worked with Singing City.

A Living Legacy: Langston Hughes and Singing City

A place to learn more about Singing City!

Welcome to In Harmony

Singing City: Next Generation is a free, non-auditioned youth choir open to young people across Philadelphia.
No prior musical experience is required — just curiosity, commitment, and a willingness to sing together.

If you know a young person who would thrive in a welcoming, supportive choral community,
we invite you to learn more and join us. Learn more and sign up for Singing City: Next Generation!

We chose Humanitix because the mission fits: a ticketing system designed to serve people,
making concert night easier, and directing fees toward human-centered causes beyond the hall.