Montopolis' “The Living Coast" at the University of Dubuque -- April 13.
Wednesday, April 13, 7:30 p.m.
University of Dubuque's Heritage Center, 2255 Bennett Street, Dubuque IA
Described by the Texas Standard as "a multimedia love letter to the Texas coast, with voices and images from the Gulf set to an original score," the touring event The Living Coast comes to the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on April 13, the performance's Montopolis ensemble a group that, according to the Houston Chronicle, "can create forceful sounding songs that have a bit of rock ‘n roll snarl, but is also capable of mournful classical sounding pieces.”
Montopolis is an independent chamber-music group from Austin, Texas, that performs the works of composer Justin Sherburn, a professional musician and Texas native that has been producing events across the nation for over 20 years. Their music folds country and folk idioms into modern classical arrangements with inventive instrumentation to create what the Austin Chronicle has deemed “stunning and transcendent” concerts. Montopolis' programs are audience-engaging, multi-media events that combine live music with video and interactive story telling, and the ensemble's most recent albums, Music for Enchanted Rock and The Legend of Big Bend, are themed around Texan ecological points of interest. The group continues to be inspired by and draw attention to the natural wonders of their state, country, and planet, and the Montopolis musicians include members of the Austin Symphony, Okkervil River, Tosca String Quartet, and the Polyphonic Spree.
In The Living Coast, this orchestral chamber-rock outfit provides, through film, songs, and stories, the musical backdrop to a gorgeous cinematic experience with dynamic storytelling focused on the Texas gulf coast. Surfers and sailors, shrimpers and oilmen, poets and scientists, and more all share their tales about this complicated region of serene beauty, vast industry, and incredible contradictions, and critics have been lavish in their praise for The Living Coast. Texas Monthly called the performance "a night of beautiful chamber music, but with electric guitar and the twang of pedal steel giving a Texas kick to the keys and strings," while Houstonia deemed it "A Prairie Home Companion with a Texas twist."
Montopolis' The Living Coast will be performed at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on April 13 at 7:30 p.m., admission is $19-29, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)585-7469 and visiting Dbq.edu/heritagecenter.
