Round Top

In the heart of  Texas exists an amazing place:
Round Top Festival Institute

The Round Top Festival Institute is a musical institute established in 1971 by pianist James Dick in Round Top, Texas.  James Dick was born on a small farm in Kansas. His father was an auto mechanic. They raised a small wheat crop and grew vegetables.
- “We were dirt poor. We didn’t think so. We didn’t realize that we were just ‘poor’ but we were. Daddy…got paid every two weeks and when I was in high school it was just dollars…twenty, thirty-two- fifty…just dollars…and yet somehow we didn’t consider ourselves poor. We still had enough money to pay $3.50 for my piano lessons. I didn’t get scholarships from my teachers.”

While pursuing a distinguished career as a concert pianist, he began the Festival-Institute in 1971 with concerts in the Winedale performance barn. Many of the Festival’s first concerts were in tents on the property of supporters. Slowly, and with remarkable care, he and the brilliant team he has created have produced a remarkable institution with a 200 acre campus of incomparable beauty. The wooded countryside on the edge of Round Top nestles wonder after wonder. Stone bridges lead to beautifully restored Victorian homes surrounded by clever herb gardens amidst crumbling ruins. It’s dreamlike.

They also serve great food… but no French Fries that, by the way, are not French! Do you know why?