SAAGO INVITES YOU TO JOIN US FOR A PHOENIX ORGAN CRAWL
Date: Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026
Start Time: Meet at 7:45 a.m. to carpool
Meeting Location To Carpool: Catalina United Methodist Church • 2700 E Speedway Blvd • Tucson, AZ 85716
The ‘crawl’ to Phoenix promises to be an exceptionally interesting event. It includes visits to two significant instruments (Berghaus, La Casa de Cristo and Richards & Fowkes, Pinnacle Presbyterian), plus a reserved tour at the Music Instrument Museum (MIM) where we’ll also have lunch. FYI, the MIM is the largest museum of its type in the world. The collection of over 15,000 musical instruments and associated objects includes examples from nearly 200 countries and territories, representing every inhabited continent. Whew!
MIM Information: MIM Entrance Fee: $20. Pay Raymond at the MIM. We’ll enter the MIM as a tour group. Lunch Information: We’ll eat lunch on our own at one of the two MIM cafes.
At 5:00 PM, we are leaving Pinnacle Presbyterian Church and heading to the World Famous, Organ Stop Pizza for dinner and enjoy the musical stylings of Brett Valliant. (It is approximately a 35 minute drive.) We will leave for Tucson around 6:45 and 7:00 PM. This will place us back at Catalina United Methodist Church around 9:00 PM.
Please sign up for the crawl whether you are driving yourself or whether you want to carpool; meeting at Catalina Methodist Church at 7:45 a.m.. We need to have a count for our entrance and pre-arranged tour of the MIM. Contact Dee Schultz at adschul@yahoo.com or phone her at 520-343-5343 by Thursday, Feb. 5. Once again, we need to know if you plan to attend—and we hope you are!
A BONUS FOR PARTICIPANTS: The visit to Pinnacle Presbyterian Church includes a recital by Rhonda Edgington, who will present Music of Germany and the Baltics. This concert is a part of Pinnacle’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of the installation of the Richards & Fowkes organ.
Download the schedule/itinerary for the day
Kimberly Marshall, renowned Professor of Organ, Arizona State University, returns to Tucson to perform in the UA Johnson Series.
The Arizona Symphonic Winds, under the direction of László Veres, will for the first time in its 40-year history, perform a major work with organ, featuring organist and past chapter dean, Janet Tolman, in Saint-Saens "Finale" from "Symphony No. 3." Comprised of 65 volunteers, Arizona Winds, presents concerts throughout the Tucson area and is well known for its free concerts in the park. The band frequently showcases both professional and amateur soloists as well as talented young performers at its concerts. Both László Veres and Janet Tolman are well known to the Tucson musical community. Be sure to mark your calendar for this unique performance.
Step back in time to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and join us in exploring how music, tourism, and ambition transformed the West — and how this legacy still resonates today on a worldwide audience. 
Discover how the organ helped redefine the American West. During the golden age of railroad travel, visitors from the East flocked to Salt Lake City, where the Salt Lake Tabernacle and its famed organ became the highlight of their journey. Historical Fact: "By 1901, a regular schedule of daily organ recitals was instituted with rail travelers visiting daily... BY THE THOUSANDS! As railroads promoted these recitals, they helped reshape the image of the West—from rugged and untamed to cultured, beautiful, and inviting. Inspired by this movement, communities across the region — including Tucson — embraced organ music as a symbol of refinement and civic pride, launching their own recital traditions.
Valerie Harris, DEAN, Central Arizona Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (CAZAGO) will present a particularly interesting workshop regarding the intermingling of the development of the Arts, specifically music, in the West in conjunction with the arrival of the railroads. Dean Harris is a concert organist, church musician, presenter and educator, who performs regularly as guest recitalist on the historic Aeolian-Skinner organ at the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, and at the Musical Instrument Museum on the 1859 Robjohn organ. She holds a DMA in Organ Performance from Arizona State University, where she studied with Kimberly Marshall. She holds a Master’s in Organ Performance and a Graduate Certificate of Church Music from Shenandoah Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music degree from Brigham Young University.
