Qualla: Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix)

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix): Introduction

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PamMcP, CC BY-SA 4.0. John Lennon's guitar hangs near a Congolese thumb piano. A Stradivarius shares space with an Appalachian dulcimer. Taylor Swift's performance outfit occupies a gallery steps away from traditional Hopi drums. This is the Musical Instrument Museum in north Phoenix, where the organizing principle is not musical genre or historical period but geography: every inhabited continent represented, nearly 200 countries and territories contributing to a collection of over 15,000 instruments. It opened in April 2010 as the largest museum of its type on Earth, the vision of Robert J. Ulrich, former CEO and chairman of Target Corporation. After visiting the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels with friend Marc Felix, Ulrich returned to Phoenix determined to build something even more ambitious. The result cost over $200 million and covers 200,000 square feet, but the numbers tell only part of the story.

Image: PamMcP | CC BY-SA 4.0

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix): Sound Without Borders

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Scotwriter21, CC BY-SA 4.0. Walk through the five geographical galleries on the upper level, and you begin to understand music as humanity's most universal technology. The Africa and Middle East gallery displays instruments from sub-Saharan villages and North African cities. The Asia and Oceania gallery spa...

Image: Scotwriter21 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix): The Artist Gallery

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0. The ground floor Artist Gallery answers a question the geographic exhibits leave open: what happens when extraordinary talent meets extraordinary instruments? Here visitors encounter the personal effects of legends. Elvis Presley's guitars and stage costumes. Pablo Casals' cello....

Image: Marine 69-71 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix): Touch, Play, Discover

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most museums post signs warning visitors not to touch. The MIM's Experience Gallery invites the opposite: pick up that drum, strum that guitar, pluck that harp. Instruments from many cultures rotate through, giving guests of all ages the chance to make music rather than simply ob...

Image: Marine 69-71 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix): A Theater for the World

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Scotwriter21, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 299-seat MIM Music Theater hosts concerts that range as widely as the collection itself. Violinist Joshua Bell recorded his album "French Impressions" here in 2011, drawn by the exceptional acoustics. Martha Reeves has sung Motown classics. Lyle Lovett has performed his Texas...

Image: Scotwriter21 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix): A Collector's Legacy

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marine 69-71, CC BY-SA 4.0. Robert Ulrich was already a collector of African art and a world museum enthusiast when he visited Brussels with Marc Felix. The Musical Instrument Museum there, housed in an Art Nouveau building, sparked an idea that would consume his post-Target years. He consulted with the Mus...

Image: Marine 69-71 | CC BY-SA 4.0