A new performance and music building at The University of Texas at Dallas is nearing completion after receiving a $10 million gift from the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation.
The building will contain a 680-seat concert hall, which is now set to be named the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation Concert Hall, according to a news release from the university. The facility will open in spring 2027.
The overview
The performance hall and music building is phase two of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum project to establish a 12-acre arts and culture district on campus.
The 67,000-square-foot building will include the concert hall, rehearsal spaces, a percussion studio, classrooms, a recording studio and student study areas, per the release.
“We envisioned so much that can come from this project, not just for UT Dallas, but for Richardson, for Dallas and for North Texas in general,” Bass Foundation trustee Michael Calhoun said in the release. “From a musical and performance perspective, this facility has the capability to reach youth, expose them to new ideas, and help them learn and thrive.”
A closer look
Per the release, the new facility will support the growth of the university’s music program and advance its goals for interdisciplinary learning.
“We have wonderful student performers, great faculty and other musicians who will perform in this building, and we’ll give them a world-class stage that makes them sound as good as they can be,” Bass School Dean Nils Roemer said in the release.
The concert hall will have a “vineyard-style configuration,” with audience members positioned around a central stage. In addition to university events, the concert hall will also host public concerts and programs.
“Our neighbors may not need to go downtown; they can experience the best of arts and culture right here on campus,” Roemer said.
Some context
The first phase of the O’Donnell Athenaeum opened in 2024 with the UT Dallas Art Museums, a second location of the Trammell and Margaret Crow Museum of Asian Art and the Brettell Reading Room. According to the release, the Athenaeum advances the university’s vision of a “cultural district where the arts, technology and ideas come together.”
The Bass Foundation previously gifted $40 million to the university in 2023, which provided initial support for the music building project and led to the naming of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology.
“The Bass name means support for ambition, creativity and the best of arts and culture,” Roemer said in the release. “I hope generations of students on campus will see how they and their aspirations are supported by the University and champions like the Bass Foundation.”
