Performing Artist M’Balia Singley has some impressive accomplishments to her credit — a one-woman show at the Kimmel Center, for example, and working with Grammy winner John Legend. But she has come to realize that her performances aren’t all about her: she sees them as collaborations with her audience. With her guitar and a broad repertoire of rock, pop, and soul standards in addition to a few of her own compositions, M’Balia creates her show in the moment, in consultation with the crowd. She wants her audience to feel seen and heard, and she forges connections with an open mind and rollicking good humor.
We are delighted to announce that M’Balia will perform at Hansberry Garden & Nature Center’s Dr. Edward Chun Amphitheater on Thursday, July 31, at 6 p.m. as part of the garden’s 2025 Summer Concert Series. The address is 5150 Wayne Avenue, but please note that the entrance is on Hansberry Street. In case of rain, the location will be Attic Brewing Company. Tickets are available on a pay-what-you-wish basis.
Our outdoor amphitheater has stone seating tiers and some chairs are available, but audience members are welcome to bring blankets, stadium seats or lawn chairs for comfort. Light refreshments will be available.
About M’Balia Singley
M’Balia Singley is a Philadelphia-based performing artist who has been exploring and excavating the human condition through story, song and audience engagement for the last quarter century.
She has shared her musical talents in such legendary music halls as the Jazz Standard and Smalls in New York City, and the World Cafe Live and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and she can be heard on John Legend’s Grammy-nominated debut album, Get Lifted, Orrin Evan’s #knowingishalfthebattle, and her own self-produced albums, including her recent release, Halfway There. As an actor, M’Balia has appeared in First Lady Suite, Ain’t Misbehavin and The Vagina Monologues, and as an educator she has taught music to students of all ages.
In 2017, M’Balia composed her first children’s musical, Anansi, the Spider King, (Arthur Warner Theater, USC) and she was a 2017-2018 Jazz Resident with the Kimmel Center, composing with lead artist, Doug Hirlinger, for Dear Philadelphia. In 2018, M’Balia was selected as a theater resident with the Kimmel Center, where she began writing Turn, an examination of Shakespeare’s Othello through the lens of intersectionality in the life of an African American woman. Turn premiered in February 2020 at the Kimmel Center, and yes, that’s Black History Month.
M’Balia is a graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in history, and she attended Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.
About the 2025 Summer Concert Series
Featuring a diverse group of performers, our concert series will happen on the final Thursday of each month from 6 to 7 p.m. Admission is on a pay-what-you-wish basis. Tickets will be available here at www.hansberrygarden.org about a month before each show.
Summer Concert Performances:
- May 29: Queer Americana singer-songwriter Brittany Ann Tranbaugh
- June 26: Senegalese kora player Youba Cissokho
- July 31: Musician and playwright M’balia Singley
- August 28: Jazz-inflected folk duo Bethlehem and Sad Patrick
- September 25: Latin roots band Conjunto Philadelphia
M’Balia is a graduate of Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in history, and she attended Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.