Arts & Culture
Performance Venues
Austin Lyric Opera
Founded in May 1985 as Austin's first professional opera company, the Austin Lyric Opera has rapidly become a cultural touchstone for the fine arts community in the Central Texas Region and gained national acclaim as a producer of great opera. Joint creators Joseph McClain and the late Dr. Walter Ducloux envisioned a dynamic company that would enrich, entertain, and educate the community as well as make opera lovers of people who had "never walked into an opera theatre."
In the spring of 2000, ALO moved into its new home designed by the award-winning firm of Lake/Flato at 901 Barton Springs Road that includes administrative offices, rehearsal halls, a box office, and the Armstrong Community School. Headed by Margaret Perry, ALO's Armstrong Community Music School is the first ever to be inaugurated by an opera company, and one of the first community music schools in Texas.
901 Barton Springs Road
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 472-5992
Austin Music Hall
Located on the corner of Third and Nueces, this Austin icon is known for both a location for great live concerts and private events. And, for a couple of weeks in December this place becomes even more special as it transforms into the ever-popular Armadillo Christmas Bazaar.
Austin Music Hall
208 Nueces St.
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 263-4146
B. Iden Payne Theatre
The 500-seat B. Iden Payne Theatre provides the perfect setting for plays and dance performances, allowing audiences a close-up look at the action on stage. This facility not only stages productions by internationally celebrated theatre companies and dance troupes, but also productions by students of the UT Department of Theatre & Dance.
23rd & San Jacinto
University of Texas
Mailing Address:
510 E. 23rd Street
P.O. Box 7818
Austin, TX 78713
Ticket Office:
(512) 471-1444 or (800) 687-6010
Hours: Mon - Fri: Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Bass Concert Hall
Completed in 1981, this flagship theatre of the Performing Arts Center is the largest in Austin, with seating for 2,800. The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Concert Hall boasts a vast stage, an orchestra pit capable of holding 100 musicians, dressing rooms to accommodate more than 100 performers, computerized lighting, advanced sound and rigging systems, and a mammoth backstage area complete with workshops for carpentry, costumes, painting, metalwork and props. Ranking among the finest performance spaces in the country both in size and accoutrements, it is no wonder that Bass Concert Hall attracts the world's greatest performers and full-scale productions.
23rd & Robert Dedman
University of Texas
Mailing Address:
510 E. 23rd Street
P.O. Box 7818
Austin, TX 78713
Ticket Office:
(512) 471-1444 or (800) 687-6010
Hours: Mon - Fri: Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Bates Recital Hall
Specially designed for its excellent acoustics, Bates Recital Hall is a 700-seat venue that is capable of hosting everything from symphony orchestras, major choral presentations and concert bands to ensembles and solo recitals. The hall also houses the country's largest tracker organ. Based on an 18th century Dutch design, the Visser-Rowland organ is three stories tall, weighs 24 tons and has 5,315 pipes. Bates Recital Hall serves both performances by professional visiting musicians and recitals by UT students and faculty members.
23rd & Robert Dedman
University of Texas
Mailing Address:
510 E. 23rd Street
P.O. Box 7818
Austin, TX 78713
Ticket Office:
(512) 471-1444 or (800) 687-6010
Hours: Mon - Fri: Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Central Presbyterian Church
Home of the Thursday Noonday Concerts--this "deliberately diverse and fully inclusive" downtown church offers a rich variety of free musical concerts to brighten the downtown workweek.
200 E. 8th Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 472-2445
Frank Erwin Center
One of Austin's premiere venues for public, private and sporting events, the Frank Erwin Center is host to rock stars, sports stars and everything in between.
1701 Red River
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 471-7744
The Hideout
Coffee house featuring live music, comedy and films. Austin ghost tours also available.
Hours:
Mon-Thu 7:00 a.m. -11:00 p.m.
Fri 7:00 a.m. -1:00 a.m.
Sat 8:30 a.m.-1:00 a.m.
Sun 10:00 a.m. -10:00 p.m.
617 Congress Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 476-0473
(512) 443-3688 - Box Office
Hogg Auditorium
Constructed in 1933, Hogg Auditorium was the very first theatre at the University of Texas at Austin. For years, this auditorium was the main source of culture on campus. With seating for 1,200, Hogg Auditorium is a charming mid-sized venue that offers a close proximity between the stage and the audience. Although fully operative now, the PAC plans to restore and renovate this historic landmark theatre in order to preserve this cultural treasure for years to come.
24th & Whitis
University of Texas
Mailing Address:
510 E. 23rd Street
P.O. Box 7818
Austin, TX 78713
Ticket Office:
(512) 471-1444 or (800) 687-6010
Hours: Mon - Fri: Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Jessen Auditorium
Located in Homer Rainey Hall (Music building) on the University of Texas, the Jessen Auditorium is a favorite venue for Austin music patrons and performers, Its acoustics, central location, and rich history have made this structure an Austin classic for almost six decades. Ideally suited for chamber music, the Jessen hosts a popular yearly concert series of faculty artists appropriately titled the Jessen Series of Distinguished Faculty Artists.
21st & University
University of Texas
(512) 471-5401
Lester E. Palmer Events Center
Located on the shores of Town Lake this new multi-use events center opened in June 2002. The Palmer Events Center is owned and operated by the City of Austin. This beautiful facility has received numerous awards for its design and excellence. The facility is used for public consumer shows, trade shows, conferences, receptions, banquets, concerts, society balls and dances.
900 Barton Springs Road
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 404-4500
Long Center for the Performing Arts
Scheduled for completion in the spring of 2008, the Long Center for the Performing Arts will serve as a hub of the community and region. This new performance venue will have a variety of spaces for both private and corporate special events, meetings, conferences, and multiple interior and exterior entertainment areas.
Current Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 301449
Austin, TX 78703-0025
(512) 482-0800
McCullough Theatre
Located adjacent to Bass Concert Hall, the McCullough Theatre features 400 seats, a 30-foot proscenium stage and an orchestra pit equipped for 35 musicians. Host to UT Opera student productions and other PAC events, this versatile space accommodates chamber music, opera, drama, dance, solo recitals and more. The cozy lobby of the theatre is also the site of many Arts After Hours functions, where young professionals and PAC patrons gather after events to share cocktails and discuss the evening's entertainment.
23rd & Robert Dedman
University of Texas
Mailing Address:
510 E. 23rd Street
P.O. Box 7818
Austin, TX 78713
Ticket Office:
(512) 471-1444 or (800) 687-6010
Hours: Mon - Fri: Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
The recently named Oscar G. Brockett Theatre is an intimate setting of 200 seats. Utilized most frequently for student productions of the Department of Theatre & Dance, this theatre helps develop budding new talent into experienced performers as part of the PAC's educational mission.
23rd & Robert Dedman
University of Texas
Mailing Address:
510 E. 23rd Street
P.O. Box 7818
Austin, TX 78713
Ticket Office:
(512) 471-1444 or (800) 687-6010
Paramount Theatre
The Paramount Theatre, then called The Majestic Theatre, opened its doors as a commercial vaudeville house in October 1915 and began a legacy of bringing world-class entertainment to Central Texas. For over 88 years, the Paramount Theatre has been home to vaudeville, silent movies and "talkies," music, dance, and Broadway shows. Through the years, a cast of superstars has graced its stage; from Houdini, the Marx Brothers, Helen Hayes, Orson Welles, Sarah Bernhardt, the Ziegfeld Follies, the Metropolitan Opera, Lillian Russell, John Philip Sousa, the Barrymores, Lillian Gish, and George M. Cohan to such modern-day favorites as Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Sarah Vaughan, Lyle Lovett, Gregory Hines, and Mandy Patinkin.
713 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701
Phone: (512) 472-2901
Santa Cruz Center for Culture
Hone to the Aztlan Folk Dance Company and site of many other dance productions by groups such as the ProArts Collective and the Teatro Humanidad, this venue is an important part of the culturally rich areas on East Sixth and Seventh Street.
1805 E. 7th
Austin, TX
(512) 478-9717
Scottish Rite Theatre
A uniquely Texas setting, and the oldest theatre in Austin. When opened by the German social organization Turn Verein, this building was hailed as "the finest stage and hall in the state." Now both a Texas and Austin treasure, this performance venue serves a multitude of uses from weddings to theatrical productions.
207 W. 18th Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 472-7247
St. David's Episcopal Church
Home of Will Taylor's Strings Attached Music Series, this historic downtown church offers a wonderful setting for beautiful concerts and musical events.
304 E. 7th Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 472-1196
State Theater
Constructed in 1935 (20 years after its next-door neighbor, the Paramount Theatre), this vintage movie house served as the Downtown destination for movie-going Austinites for nearly fifty years. Once the megaplex cinemas moved to town, however, the State Theater was eventually forced to close its doors, and it wasn't until a decade later that her plight was embraced by our city. In 1994, the Austin City Council passed a resolution naming Live Oak Productions the recipient of $1.9 million in bond money earmarked for renovating the building. The renovation and design was directed by Sinclair Black, and Live Oak Productions, embracing the spirit of its new permanent home (as well as the 'er' spelling of 'theatre'), became the State Theater Company and took up residence.
719 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 472-2901
Symphony Square
Symphony Square is the headquarters of the Austin Symphony, the city's oldest performing arts group. Located at Red River and 11th Streets, Symphony Square is a complex of four historic limestone buildings and a 350-seat amphitheater.
Austin Symphony Orchestra
1101 Red River
Austin, TX 78701
476-6064
UT Performing Arts Center (see also Bass Concert Hall)
Operating under the auspices of the College of Fine Arts, the PAC's six theatres serve as a "culture for learning" for faculty, students and artists alike and as a center for the creation and cultivation of new American art. Our mission to educate, enlighten and entertain our audiences informs all our programs, both public and behind the scenes. Whether it takes place in a classroom, on a stage, or out in the community, the PAC is fiercely dedicated to teaching our students and the people of Central Texas about the arts and its importance in our daily lives.
23rd & Robert Dedman
University of Texas
Mailing Address:
510 E. 23rd Street
P.O. Box 7818
Austin, TX 78713
Ticket Office:
(512) 471-1444 or (800) 687-6010
Zachary Scott Theater
Zachary Scott Theatre Center (ZACH) is one of Austin's most vibrant and innovative arts organizations and Central Texas oldest professional theatre. ZACH's mission is to engage Central Texas in a dialogue by producing professional theatre of the highest artistic quality, inspired by a unique artistic vision and to offer a diverse theatre experience which is accessible to the community as a whole. In addition, ZACH fosters artistic education, expression, and development in children, teens and adults through a variety of outreach opportunities.
1510 Toomey Road
(512) 476-0541
Hours:
Box Office is open Mon - Sat: Noon to 7 p.m.
Charge tickets by phone at (512) 476-0541 Ext.1
Beverly S. Sheffield Zilker Hillside Theater
Located just across from Barton Springs Pool in beautiful Zilker Park, the natural amphitheater is nestled among a grove of giant 100 year old Pecan trees and is home to numerous locally produced musical and dance oriented events. On any given starry summer evening this Austin institution has performances ranging from the Austin Symphony or the Austin Civic Orchestra to the annual Summer Musical and Shakespeare in the Park. Admission as always is free but a $3.00 parking fee is charged.
2206 William Barton Drive
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 477-5335