A Tucson church becomes Arizona's newest music venue
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La Rosa in Tucson. Photo: Courtesy of Charlie Levy
A spiritual experience awaits Phoenix music lovers willing to make the 90-mile journey to Arizona's newest concert space.
The big picture: La Rosa, inside a restored Benedictine Monastery Chapel, is a 750-person live performance venue in Tucson's Sam Hughes neighborhood.
- It's the latest project from Charlie Levy — the concert promoter behind downtown Phoenix's Crescent Ballroom, The Van Buren and Valley Bar — and longtime Hotel Congress entertainment director David Slutes.
State of play: The chapel was rechristened in October when Tucson indie-mambo band Orkesta Mendoza took the stage.
- The venue has hosted rock bands, orchestral sets, folk acts and a sold-out show for Arizona bands-gone-big The Format and The Gin Blossoms.
Flashback: Levy, who sold his interest in The Van Buren to LiveNation in 2021, told Axios he didn't intend to open another venue but agreed to help Slutes scout a Tucson location.
- Yes, but: When he saw the church, he threw "caution to the wind," Levy said.
- The "head nun's" quarters would make a perfect dressing room. The balcony where she'd keep an eye on mass could be converted to a viewing suite for performers' families. And the chapel's domed ceilings and cathedral columns provided an obvious placement for the stage.
What they're saying: "I said, 'This is too perfect. We have to do it,'" Levy recalls. "It really has the bones to be one of the greatest performance spaces in the Southwest."
The intrigue: Levy said readying La Rosa for live music was an entirely different experience from his Phoenix projects, which were "blank canvases."
- Crescent Ballroom was an old garage. The Van Buren was a car dealership-turned-warehouse. And Valley Bar was a storage basement.
- "We kept what we could, the exposed brick and the ceilings, and then just added to it," he said.
The other side: With La Rosa, the key was adding as little as possible, Levy said.
- They placed the main bar in the outdoor courtyard to keep the focus on the idyllic chapel. PA boxes, usually black, were painted white to match the walls. And sound treatments to counter the church's echo are disguised to blend with the ceiling.
- "Basically, what's the least amount we can do to not mess this up?" Levy said. "We wanted everyone to have the same feeling as when we walked in two years ago."
What's next: The La Rosa team is planning a restaurant next door called Sisters — a nod to the monastery's former occupants — which is expected to open in the coming weeks.
- Ian Stupar, who owns the Royal Room in Tucson, will helm the kitchen.
- It will include a by-the-slice pizza window allowing concertgoers to grab a bite without missing the show.
The bottom line: Traveling to a concert gets you out of your element and forces you to soak in the experience, Levy said.
- "Drive an hour and a half and go eat somewhere new and see a show at a great new venue," he said. "You'll have lots to talk about on the drive home."