WORCESTER — Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester has held plenty of "open house" events in the past to showcase its programs and faculty to prospective students along with putting on special performances and tours of the school.

Saturday's open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., however, will be somewhat different.

For one thing, it will be in a new house — or rather, church.

After 36 years Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester is now in a different community, having moved from Pakachoag Church in Auburn to All Saints Church, 10 Irving St.

It is, as the school itself describes it, "a big, bold step this fall."

But "it wasn't sudden," Pakachoag Music School Executive Director Sarah Smongeski said about the decision, which was several years in the making. The relocation itself has been taking place over several months and was officially announced Sept. 4.

"Being centrally located in Worcester made sense to us," Smongeski said. "Arts and culture often does reside in urban settings. It just made sense that we would come into the city and join the cultural energy that's in Worcester."

At All Saints the school isn't too many walking steps from Main Street at the heart of downtown Worcester, compared to the relatively bucolic countryside setting of Pakachoag Church at 203 Pakachoag St. in Auburn.

Last year, Pakachoag Music School served 460 students in a variety of programs, including Music Together (early childhood), private lessons in instrument (from piano, violin and guitar to harp and sitar) and voice, Suzuki violin and cello, musical theater, music ensembles, fiddle band, jazz studies and musicianship/theory. Financial aid is available. The school also presents a number of student and faculty recitals. While the move is definitive, the school will continue its satellite programs in neighboring communities. Pianist Kristjon Imperio has been hired as a new program director to lead lesson growth and manage the school’s student performances.

The age range of students is from early childhood to a "nice cluster of adults," said Smongeski, who is also a flutist and flute teacher and has been the music school's executive director since 1992.

The school was founded as Pakachoag Community Music School by Pakachoag Church in 1982 as part of a vision to offer something tangible to the community at a time when public schools were cutting their arts and music programs. In 1989 the school was incorporated as an independent nonprofit organization and changed its name to the Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester in 2009. But it remained housed at the church, which itself had moved on Pakachoag Street from an old building to a new church facility with room for the school. Pakachoag Church has a rich music tradition, including also housing a Dobson Pipe Organ Opus 69.

With that, "over many years we had had questions about our space and what was going to be the best future path for the school," Smongeski said. "We didn't have a lease in Auburn. It was unclear about what the future of the building would be. We felt we needed to put ourselves in a position of having a lease." The move "positions us to plan more effectively and pursue our mission in a more dynamic manner."

Meanwhile, Pakachoag Music School and All Saints Church have a relationship going back 10 years with a choir program and also a community outreach Afternoon Tunes program.

All Saints also had space — with 5,000 square feet of dedicated space for the music school on the second and third floors of its expansive facility — and offered a lease.

"It's not dramatically bigger (than Pakachoag Church) but definitely we have a couple of additional studios that we have now for teaching. We were feeling feeling a bit constrained. The office space is bigger, which is helpful," said Smongeski as she was sitting in her new office last week.

An "On The Move" capital investment campaign has a goal of $200,000 to fund the fixtures, furnishings and equipment needed for the school’s new home, with about 90 percent of the total already raised, Smongeski said.

But not everyone was in on the move, she acknowledged.

While a lot of parents of students understood the reasons and are excited, "there are parents who haven't made the move ... There were all points of view."

For private lessons, the program that is most directly impacted, roughly 10 percent of the students chose not to return this year because of the move, Smongeski said.

On the other hand, "we see a great potential of new students and new programs to interface with," said Kallin Johnson, incoming board president. The school is planning for a 10 percent annual growth rate for the next two to three years.

"We want people to feel that this is a place anyone can go," Smongeski said.

Johnson's connection with Pakachoag Music School goes back further than even Smongeski's relationship as he was the school's founding executive director in 1982.

He said he answered an ad for the position. The new school was set up in the old church at 191 Pakachoag St. and consisted of "a card table in the basement."

Johnson, who has a master of music degree in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, was living in Somerville. "I didn't know Central Massachusetts at the time. I had to go out and meet music teachers."

He started a children's music program and chorus. Some of those members have maintained their connection with the school, including the mother of a current student.

Johnson left the school in 1986 but is active in the local arts community and has served on the boards of several organizations.

"I've always been in touch with Sarah. I'm glad Sarah hung in there," Johnson said of Smongeski.

"I'm very positive about the future of the school. We're excited about being here in Worcester," he said.

There are several other music and performing arts schools in the Worcester area. For example, in her office at 10 Irving St., Smongeski can look out the window and see the Worcester Music Academy across the road at 9 Irving St.

"I think that each school is different in terms of the culture of the school," she said. "So we're pulling from a similar geographic base but I don't think any school feels we're in direct competition because every school has a different character and culture."

Now Pakachoag Music School is a little different than before by dint of its new location.

"In small ways it definitely feels different. Everything is more accessible in a sense as a cultural organization. Even this building - there's a lot of music," Smongeski said.

All Saints Church also has a distinguished musical tradition, an Aeolian-Skinner Opus 909 pipe organ, and is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the All Saints Choir of Men and Boys in 1868 (the Girls Choir was founded in 1897).

Johnson also has long-standing connections with All Saints. "I was married in this church. This is my wife's church," he said. His wife is president of the All Saints Choir Alumni Association and his nephew is an assistant church organist.

All Saints Church will open the entire building for Saturday's open house and host an instrument petting zoo, provide architectural tours of the buildings halls and hidden spaces, and put on an open choir rehearsal and organ performance in the sanctuary. Other open house activities will include Music Together early childhood classes, a puppet show, an afternoon Pakachoag faculty "Walking Concert," alumni and student performances, a fiddle band showcase and lemonade in the courtyard.

"They've been very welcoming," Smongeski said of the church.

"You walk down stairs and you hear the choir and the organ. Our students hearing that — it's a really good thing," she said.

Contact Richard Duckett at richard.duckett@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @TGRDuckett