Round Top Festival Institute
Round Top was the home of several prominent, cultured, and often titled German families, the most prominent of which was the Peter Carl Von Rosenberg family. His son, Wilhelm, had been the court architect of the King of Prussia. He later drew up the preliminary plans for our state capitol, and even helped found the German Free School in Austin. Music is one of German Texans’ most long-lasting legacies. In the last several decades, concert pianist James Dick has made it his life’s work to breathe new life into Round Top’s classical music heritage.
Just one mile north of town, Dick founded in 1971 the Round Top Festival Institute. The Institute’s 1,100-seat concert hall is of visual and acoustic beauty unrivaled in Texas, offering a 10-day festival and dozens of performances annually. On the 210 acres of pastoral gardens and fountains are several renovated 19th century homes and the Edythe Bates Old Chapel – with its 1835 Henry Erben pipe organ.