Every Wednesday afternoon around lunch time, nearly 300 people descend on Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Sacramento. They’re headed to “Music At Noon” a weekly concert series that takes place across the street from the Capitol building. 

The series is an institution in the musical culture of Sacramento and has been for over 20 years. The waitlist for artists to get their turn to perform often has exceeded three years long.

This concert series is unique for several reasons: For one, it occurs every week and it’s in the middle of the day, hence the title. But it’s also completely free and attendees can eat their lunch inside the sanctuary while they enjoy the show.

In May, the series — which was founded in 2002 by the church Organist Brad Slocum — will celebrate its 1,000th performance. 

Slocum, who started the series after moving to Sacramento from the Bay Area, told CapRadio’s Midday Classical Host Jennifer Reason that he wasn’t sure if a concert series like this would be successful in Sacramento — but he was willing to give it a shot, regardless.

"We've been doing concerts for about 22 years now," Slocum said, "and it's really been a privilege to serve the community."

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

On how the series got started

It started modestly with me. I was hired as the organist at Westminster Presbyterian church across from Capitol Park in downtown Sacramento, and that was in 2002. At the end of the interview they asked if I would consider doing a concert series, and I said yes, if we could do it well. I wasn't sure if we could do it well because I didn't know anybody here in Sacramento and I came from the Bay Area.

I played organ and piano for that first concert in November of 2002, and brought a few performers from the Bay Area for the first few concerts.

It was a period of a few years until I got to know the artists here, but then I was amazed at the quantity of high quality musicians here in Sacramento. The scholarship here in Sacramento is fantastic so I never have a problem finding quality concerts.

On the idea behind a noontime series

I wanted to do a daytime series partly for my own rhythm — I'm a morning person.

But also, I wanted a niche that was unlike others, which meant we could attract retirees, or people who worked at night. We could attract people who might only be able to drive during the daytime. We also have senior residences with vans who arrive almost every week with 10 or more residents and they become very attached to the series because it's so easy for them. It works. We actually have parking for them and it's a convenient and free concert. 

The venue is so suitable for “happy sound” that it attracts the artists in the area who need a venue, and deserve a good one. It pleases me that the church can share their facility, which is not used much between Sundays.

On the venue

The unique quality sound that this venue can produce is because it was modeled after the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul, although you could probably fit 20 Westminsters inside Hagia Sophia. The high ceiling and the arches and the complex curves give a very gentle, pleasing sound.

It’s also a place that performers don't have to pay for where they already have an audience every week, so it’s a gift to both parties.

On why local concert series matter

Well, our world is certainly much more diverse and complicated now, isn't it, with the technical options that we have. We can do the internet of course, we can do livestream — which we do. 

There is something special about the energy that happens when performer and audience come together. Sometimes we call it synergy; and the individual energies add up to be even more when they interact with each other. There's a special connection and even though we have other ways of listening we do need to be connected as humans also.

Sacramento has such a diverse community, and it has diverse artistry as well. We've had jazz,  classical, Indian music, choirs, and swing bands. We've pretty much had most everything and we have hundreds of artists we can draw from. That's the richness of Sacramento.