Get ready for the 2019-20 season!

Chapter News / By

This year, it’s all about growing as an organist. What are you going to do this season to be sure that you will be a better organist in May than you are now in August? Check out our planned concerts, recitals, volunteer organist training, certification, and open console events!

Northern Utah Events

We are making good on our threats to support better our organists in northern Utah. This season, we have two significant events planned in Ogden and Logan, respectively. These include an open console event, guest artists, and maybe even a theatre organ demo, complete with a short silent movie!

Subscribe to the newsletter using the form at the bottom of this page to make sure you get notified as details are solidified.

Certification Showcase and Volunteer Organist Events

Utah enjoys one of the largest populations of volunteer organists anywhere in the country. The SLCAGO is working to support these organists. This year, we wil spotlight AGO Certification as a primary benefit for volunteer organists.

Certification Showcase: Take the mystery out of AGO certification! This season, we’ll do a mock exam for the Service Playing Certificate. Come see what an exam is really like, and what level of skill you’ll need to attain a Service Playing Certificate. You may be more prepared than you think!

More Volunteer Organist Training: Playing on the past successes of Super Saturday training events, this year, we will try a smaller format that may be more accessible for more organists. If this is successful, we hope to offer more frequent training events like these. Check the newsletter for details as they emerge.

Certification Recital: We plan to wrap up the season with a member recital and reception that highlights new certificants.

This year, it’s all about growing as an organist. What are you going to do this season to be sure that you will be a better organist in May than you are now in August?

Concerts & Recitals

We are partnering with the Eccles Organ Festival and with Temple Square Performances to bring you a full season of exciting organ concerts and recitals. You can find all these events on our Events Calendar.

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AGO Certification Showcase Event!

Certification & Training, Chapter News / By

A showcase of proficient organ skills that every organist should possess to play effectively for worship services for many churches—including ​LDS Sacrament Meetings and Stake Conferences, funerals, weddings, ​and even for accompanying choirs​—and a certification program to help you develop those skills!

Each year, many AGO members receive certification of their service playing skills with the Service Playing Test. The Service Playing Certificate is recognized by many churches and employers as a demonstration of proficiency at the organ and brings organists many professional benefits.

Achieving certification also provides two important benefits for volunteer organists. First, the certification sets a plan that an organist can work on to become a well-rounded musician. Second, many organists find not only that the expanded skills give them more confidence, but also that the certification itself gives them a sense of accomplishment and legitimacy, which also lead to greater confidence when playing in new situations.

The test itself is entirely practical (no music theory tests), and the required skills come into play at the worship service(s) that most organists play each week. This includes practical skills that every organist should possess to play effectively for worship services for many churches—including LDS Sacrament Meetings and Stake Conferences, funerals, weddings, and even for accompanying choirs. The Service Playing Certificate sets out a path for you to develop all of those skills!

Click below to view the Event page and download a flyer to share with your students, your church organists, and your church’s music leadership. All organists are welcome, especially volunteer organists!

AGO Certification Showcase: Service Playing Certificate (SPC)

CANCELED: SLCAGO Fall Kickoff: Temple Square Performances: Raul Prieto Ramirez Recital

Concerts & Recitals / By

Update Sep 25: We are sad to announce that Raul Prieto Ramirez has had to cancel his scheduled performance this Friday. Treatment for a severe flare-up of tendonitis, which I am certain many of you have suffered, is forcing rest. Our reception is also canceled, of course. We will keep you updated with information about future events.

The recital and reception will be held Friday, September 27, 2019 @ 7:30 PM in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

The SLCAGO kicks off the 2019-20 season by joining Temple Square Performances to bring you this recital by Raul Prieto Ramirez. The recital will be followed with a private reception for AGO members and donors.

CANCELED – Season Kickoff: Temple Square Performances: Raul Prieto Ramirez Recital and Reception

Ramirez is a Spanish-born organist recently appointed as San Diego California Civic Organist at Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park. You can read more about him here: https://www.raulpr.com/prueba-home-2.

AGO Members and Donors are invited to join us for a private reception with the artist following the concert. This is the perfect place to meet up with fellow chapter members to start off the season. This replaces our traditional potluck kickoff event.

We think you will really enjoy this concert and we look forward to seeing you at the reception!

Recital: Agnieszka Rybak-Piotrowska on Temple Square

Concerts & Recitals / By

Polish organist Agnieszka Rybak-Piotrowska will be giving a solo organ recital in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square on Tuesday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m.  Her program is titled, “A God of Miracles: The Miracle on the Vistula,” and will tie in to the Polish national holiday of August 15, during which the Polish people celebrate their country’s 1920 victory over Soviet-Russia during the Polish-Soviet War. 

Recital: Agnieszka Rybak-Piotrowska on Temple Square

Teachers and Subs Lists Updated

Chapter News / By

The SLCAGO Organ Teachers List and SLCAGO Substitute Organist Lists have been updated (July 2019). Four new substitutes and five new teachers are now included!

Chapter members are eligible to be included on our lists. We maintain these lists in hopes of helping chapter members in their professions, and to help students and others who need to find qualified teachers or substitutes.

So go find your new organ teacher today!

AGO Certification — Will You Join Me?

Concerts & Recitals / By

When we release our 2019-20 program details, you’ll some increased focus in AGO Certification this year. We are very excited about certification and the benefits it can bring all organists, whether professional, volunteer, or hobbyist.

This month’s TAO (The American Organist, July 2019), includes a few certification testimonials in an article entitled, “AGO Professional Certification” that goes right along with our chapter focus. (Read TAO online at agohq.org.)

My favorite is this one:

The AGO examinations, which test many areas of skill, promote a complete musicianship that has always been an organist’s hallmark. For me, the study and practice leading up to each exam were as fulfilling as the sense of achievement when I passed.

—David Enlow, FAGO, ARCCO

So, I’m going to throw out the challenge now. I am going to go for my Service Playing certification this season! I am not trained. I am a volunteer organist. I play Sundays in my LDS congregation and I really have very little aspiration for organ repertoire. However, I have great aspiration for what David wrote above: “a complete musicianship that has always been an organist’s hallmark.”

Every organist, whatever one’s role, needs that next-step musicianship. I know already from experience that each step up in my skills increases my enjoyment of the organ. Now, certification is my next step. July 2019 TAO also documents the 2020 AGO Professional Certification Requirements. You can also find them on agohq.org.

So, will you join me?

AGO Partnership with Church Music Institute

Chapter News / By

Your AGO membership just became more valuable!

Effective 11/June 2019, the AGO entered into a partnership with the Church Music Institute to provide discounted membership rates for AGO members. You get all the benefits of CMI membership, including access to its online Sacred Music Library with over 18,000 choral selections and over 13,000 organ compositions.

Check out the details here an “upgrade” your membership!

Take the Survey

Chapter News / By

The AGO (national) needs your input. Take the AGO Strategic Planning Survey here!

The survey is being distributed to all Guild members following each regional convention. You may already have gotten an email from the AGO about the survey.

John Rice and I attended an AGO Leadership Conference a few months ago. There is great energy and investment around this strategic effort. It is a multi-year effort.

May of the national concerns mirror our own local concerns: engaging both professional organists and volunteer organists, expanding educational offerings, and attracting new members and continuing to renew members.

Your input on the survey will be most helpful. Please take a moment to respond.