51st Round Top Music Festival June 5-July 17

Founded in 1971 by concert pianist James Dick, Round Top Festival Institute offers selected talented young artists a six week program including Orchestral, Chamber music, and solo repertoires... in the smallest incorporated town in Texas. (pop. 90)

Round Top Festival Institute owns its campus (over 200 acres), its venues (an extraordinary) acoustically peerless 1,000 seat concert hall and a 160 seat chapel), its practice rooms, its accommodations, its food service and other amenities (swimming pool, jogging trails) The whole project has been specifically envisioned and realized to provide the best environment to implement the program and to offer the audience a dreamlike atmosphere to enjoy music and nature: a jewel in the crown of Texas.

The relatively small number of participants (usually 90) whose admissions are based on auditions and recommendations, and the fact that participants and faculty share the same campus, create a collegial atmosphere through which a constant flow of stimulating exchanges enlightens everyone. Young artists are from major schools of music.

The Texas Festival Orchestra, body of young artists, will perform six programs (Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.) conducted by Christoph Campestrini, Alex Amsel, Dongmin Kim, Michelle Merrill and Carl St. Clair, on Sunday July 3 a “Texas Tribute,” and one program (Tuesday June 21 at 11 a.m.) for Young Persons conducted by Emilio Colon. The guest soloists are pianist James Dick, violinist Regis Pasquier, trumpeter Kyle Sherman, clarinetist Amitai Vardi, and violist Brett Deubner. Orchestra rehearsals are open to the public from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday thru Friday.

Repertoire includes works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Sergei Rachmaninov, Giuseppe Verdi, P.I. Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy, Henri Tomasi, Dmitri Shostakovich, Paul Dukas, Igor Stravinsky, Bedrich Smetana, Andrew Rudin and Modest Mussorgsky.

Chamber music concerts offer a wide variety of ensembles (duos, trios, quartets, sextets, septets, octets, larger ensembles). Performers are faculty members with the participation of young artists. Works by Wolfgang Amadeus. Mozart, Cesar Franck, Francis Poulenc, Antonin Dvorak, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Pavel Haas, Bohuslav Martinu, Georges Onslow, and Klement Slavicky are on the programs.

Master classes (open to the public) are given on weekdays at 1:30 p.m. in the serene and beautiful Edythe Bates Old Chapel.