If you ever walked the halls of the former Benedictine Monastery when the sisters were singing sacred choir music or sat in the grand chapel when the choir was performing, you could hear the soaring, sobering voices echo in a way that stirred your soul.
These days the midtown monastery is silent. The Tucson order of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration sold the compound that was their home for generations in October 2017 to a local developer that plans to build multistory housing on the midtown property. The new owner has said the chapel will remain.
And that is where you will find member choirs of the Arizona Choral Arts Association this weekend as they make the case for using the chapel as a haven for choral music.
The group is bringing together eight Tucson choirs over three days Oct. 19-21 for “Voices at the Monastery,” a celebration of vocal harmonies that the organization hopes will showcase the chapel’s ideal acoustics and environment for classical music.
“It’s a very beautiful space. For choirs, you need echoey spaces,” Terrie Ashbaugh, director of the Southern Arizona Women’s Chorus and one of the event’s organizers, said in a written statement. “The acoustics are just incredible for this type of music.”
Ashbaugh’s choir is one of the groups performing. Also on the lineup: Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, Sons of Orpheus, Tucson Women’s Chorus, Tucson Desert Harmony, Moxie Chorus, Arizona Repertory Singers and The Helios Ensemble.
“Collectively these choirs have a large following,” Ashbaugh said. “We support the neighborhoods around the monastery and so many residents nearby want to see it be used for something positive, like performances.”
Concerts will be held Friday, Oct. 19, through Sunday, Oct. 21, beginning at 7 p.m. each day. Proceeds will benefit the choral association, a consortium of local choirs that share resources including concert calendars and musicians. The association hopes to raise enough money to support an office and rehearsal and recording studio for Tucson choirs.
Ashbaugh said she hopes the united choral voices at the monastery will bring a spirit of community to the once sacred facility.
“It’s almost spiritual to be able to share an emotional experience together,” she said. “Music is very emotional. We also want to expose Tucson to the choral community. A lot of people don’t know we’re here.”
