Montopolis combining original music with film and live narration

Kerrville, TX –Schreiner University is proud to welcome Montopolis to “Music and Conversation” on Wednesday, Feb 19, at 7 p.m. in the Junkin Campus Ministry Center. This is a free event and open to the public.

Montopolis is an indie chamber music group from Austin, TX,that performs the works of composer Justin Sherburn. Schreiner University and Montopolis received a $2,500 grant from The Texas Commission of the Arts to perform at Schreiner University. Their music folds country and folk idioms into modern classical arrangements with inventive instrumentation to create “stunning and transcendent” concerts. Their programs are audience-engaging, multi-media events that combine live music with video and interactive story telling.

The “Music for Enchanted Rock”multi-media performance features a slideshow of Rip Shaub’s stunning landscape photography, audio recordings of the legends of Enchanted Rock, and the music of Montopolis that Texas Monthly calls “the great long-lost collaboration between Ennio Morricone and Phillip Glass that we didn’t know we were missing.”

While composing “Music for Enchanted Rock,”Sherburn recorded interviews that inspired the piece and eventually became part of the performance. Tales of camping trips, ghost stories, Native American legends and stories about the Texas Rangers are interlaced throughout, guiding the audience on a visual and musical journey. This is a uniquely Texan approach to modern classical music with influences ranging from Bob Wills to Arvo Part. The band is scheduled to perform in one of the most formidable music institutes in the contemporary environment, Schreiner University.

In an intimate and relaxed setting, “Music and Conversation” is instructive as well as entertaining. Much like “Inside the Actors Studio” with James Lipton, artists discuss and explain the art and craft behind their songwriting and demonstrate these concepts through their performance. The program is included in the curriculum of several of Schreiner’s undergraduate classes and Schreiner faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend. Special invitations have also been sent to Music at the Mansion patrons.

For questions regarding this event, contact Dr. William Davis, Dean of Faculty, at wdavis@schreiner.edu or 830-792-7415.