September: In a Time Like This, We Sing
In a time like this, we sing.
There are moments when music is entertainment. And then there are moments when music becomes something more.
A place to remember. A way to grieve. A reason to gather. A reminder that, even when the world feels divided, we can still choose to stand beside one another.
This September, the Turtle Creek Chorale will gather our community twice for two evenings that could not look more different—and yet, at their heart, are deeply connected. On September 16, we will stand on the stage of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and remember a day that changed our country forever.
Ten days later, we will open the doors of Turtle Manor and invite our community inside to celebrate the music, people and stories that have carried the Turtle Creek Chorale for 46 years.
One evening is about remembrance.
The other is about possibility.
Both are about what happens when people choose to come together.
Twenty-Five Years Later, We Remember
It has been 25 years since September 11, 2001.
For some, the memories remain vivid: where we were, who we called, the images we watched unfold and the uncertainty that followed.
For others, September 11 belongs to a history they inherited rather than lived.
That is part of what makes this anniversary so significant.
A quarter century later, remembering cannot simply mean looking backward. It also asks us to consider what we have learned, what we have carried with us and what kind of world we are continuing to build together. At a time when disagreement can so easily become division, when tragedy continues to touch communities around the world and when it sometimes feels easier to retreat into our differences than reach across them, the simple idea behind Better Is Peace feels profoundly important.
Peace is better.
Community is better.
Listening is better.
And sometimes, before we can move forward together, we have to remember together.
On Wednesday, September 16, more than 400 artists will gather at the Meyerson for Better Is Peace: 9/11 Remembered Through Song and Dance.
The Turtle Creek Chorale will be joined by Bruce Wood Dance, Dallas Chamber Symphony and young singers from Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy—multiple generations and artistic disciplines sharing one stage and one message.
At the center of the evening will be the world premiere of the men’s chorus version of Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.
The work does not shy away from conflict or grief. It moves through them. It acknowledges the devastation of war and ultimately reaches toward reconciliation, renewal and hope.
That journey feels especially meaningful now.
Because Better Is Peace is not only a remembrance of what happened 25 years ago.
It is also a statement about what we still believe is possible today.
Then, We Open the Door
Just ten days later, the story continues—but this time, it moves from a concert hall into a home.
On September 26, the Arts District Mansion will become Rhapsody at Turtle Manor, and for one night, guests will be invited to experience the Turtle Creek Chorale from the inside out.
There will be no assigned seats.
No single stage.
No prescribed way to experience the evening.
Instead, guests will receive a house key and wander through rooms filled with jazz, classical music, soul, barbershop, drag, karaoke, cocktails, archival stories and unexpected performances. Around one corner might be a familiar song. Behind another door, a piece of Chorale history. Somewhere down the hall, a voice may begin singing—and the only way to know where it leads is to follow it.
It will be beautiful. It will be surprising. And yes, it will be a celebration.
But Rhapsody has always meant more than a beautiful evening. It is an investment in what happens after the party is over.
The funds raised at Rhapsody support the Turtle Creek Chorale's mission to entertain, educate, unite and inspire through its musical, cultural and educational programs. That means when someone gives at Rhapsody, they are not simply buying a ticket to an event. They are helping keep voices singing.
They are helping ensure that there is still a Chorale able to take the stage when our city needs joy, when our community needs comfort, when an important story needs to be told or when hundreds of people simply need a reason to gather in the same room and remember that they belong to something larger than themselves.
For 46 years, that has been part of the role of the Turtle Creek Chorale.
What began with 30 men singing together in 1980 has grown into a Chorale of more than 250 members, with a history that has taken its music from Dallas to Carnegie Hall, across Europe and even before Queen Elizabeth II.
But perhaps the most important part of that history cannot be measured by stages, recordings or miles traveled.
It is measured in people.
The singer who found community.
The audience member who heard something they needed to hear.
The person who walked into a concert feeling alone and walked out feeling a little less so.
The generations who have discovered that music can hold grief and joy at the same time.
And the people who continue to make sure there is a place for that music to live.
That is what Rhapsody makes possible.
This Is Why We Gather
There is something fitting about these two evenings happening only ten days apart.
On September 16, hundreds of artists will stand together and ask us to remember.
On September 26, hundreds of friends and supporters will gather to help ensure that the music continues.
One honors those who came before us.
The other invests in those who will come after us.
And somewhere between the two is the story of the Turtle Creek Chorale.
For nearly half a century, this organization has believed that singing together can do more than create beautiful music.
It can create understanding.
It can preserve memory.
It can make room for joy.
It can give people courage.
It can remind us of our shared humanity when the world seems determined to emphasize everything that separates us.
Perhaps that is why this September feels so important.
In a time like this, we need places where people still gather.
We need art that asks us to feel something.
We need spaces where grief can become hope, strangers can become community and hundreds of individual voices can become one.
And so, this September, we will do what the Turtle Creek Chorale has done for 46 years.
We will gather.
We will remember.
We will celebrate.
And we will sing.
