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Round Top’s
Festival Hill

By Mike Gullickson

The 1,000-seat concert hall at Festival Hill is celebrated for its beauty and acoustics.

Tucked away between Austin and Houston is a mecca
for music and poetry lovers

One of the most beautiful spots forming Arts. Renowned concert pianist PHOTO BY GREG WESTFALL
in Central Texas is Festival James Dick, an alum of the University
Hill. You may have heard of it, of Texas at Austin, founded the institute Festival Concert Hall hosts musical and
but if you visit you’ll never forget it. It’s in 1971 and sometimes performs there. ballet performances, lectures and po-
located near Round Top, a town of 90 In 2009, Dick was recognized with the etry readings.
people, about halfway between Austin Texas Medal of Arts for his work in arts
and Houston. It offers bed and breakfast education.
lodging, a few restaurants and twice a
year hosts one of the largest antiques Recently, Texas Farm and Home maga-
fairs in the country. zine had this to say about Festival Hill’s
concert hall:
Festival Hill is a 210-acre campus that
is home to the Round Top Festival Insti- “Its acoustics are nearly flawless. For a
tute, an internationally acclaimed music concert venue its architecture is almost
institute that provides year-round per- perfect. From a performer’s perspective
formances and educational programs for it is possibly the greatest concert hall in
young musicians. It is the sole project of the United States.”
the James Dick Foundation for the Per-
This year, the institute’s Round Top
Music Festival, which attracts some of

36 | SUNRAYS JULY 2015 ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG