Bass Performance Hall
A 1998 opera-house-style hall in Fort Worth, fronted by two 48-foot limestone angels.
The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall opened on 1 May 1998, built on the initiative of the pianist Van Cliburn and the Fort Worth philanthropists whose names it carries. David M. Schwarz designed it in a deliberately traditional manner, as a horseshoe opera house of limestone and plaster rather than a modernist box. Two trumpeting angels, each 48 feet tall and carved from Texas limestone by the Hungarian sculptor Marton Varo, stand against the Commerce Street front.
Inside, the Founders Concert Theater seats around 2,050 across four levels beneath an 80-foot dome painted by the Fort Worth brothers Scott and Stuart Gentling with a sky of figures and clouds. The hall is home to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Texas Ballet Theater and Fort Worth Opera, hosts a touring Broadway season, and has been the venue for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition since 2001.
Highlights
- Two 48-foot limestone angels by Marton Varo on the Commerce Street front
- Founders Concert Theater under an 80-foot dome painted by the Gentling brothers
- Home to the Fort Worth Symphony, Texas Ballet Theater and Fort Worth Opera
- Venue for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
