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Following a year of sold out shows across the state with their
Legend of Big Bend concert, orchestral rock group
Montopolis returns to Austin to premier a new show, “The Living Coast”, an immersive film and concert experience that explores the Texas gulf coast. Featuring composer Justin Sherburn’s original music, video by Anlo Sepulveda (Yakona), and archival photography of the Great Galveston Hurricane, the deadliest storm in US history. Surfers and sailors, shrimpers and oilmen, poets and scientists all share their stories in interviews about this complicated region of serene beauty, vast industry, and incredible contradictions.
Sherburn has reunited with collaborator Anlo Sepulveda, co-director of the film
Yakona (winner of the 2014 SXSW audience award) and drone pilot Reagan Jobe (
Outkast FPV) to create some truly original and stunning imagery. A native of Corpus Christi, Anlo’s knowledge of the region combined with Reagan’s drone flying virtuosity has enabled them to capture never before seen perspectives of beaches and wetlands, oil rigs and refineries, epic kite surfing, and industrial fishing boats – a complete visual portrait of life on the coast.
New York Times published author
Timothy Braun has contributed a historical adaptation of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 which will be performed live by voice actor
Robert A Kraft. This reading will be accompanied by archival photography and a score provided by Montopolis that translates the violence and terror of this unparalleled hurricane event into music.
Fourth in the Montopolis concert series about places in Texas, The Living Coast is their most ambitious musical incarnation to date with a horn section, string section, and rock rhythm section featuring members of the Tosca String Quartet, Okkervil River, the Polyphonic Spree, and the Austin Symphony.
Leigh Mahoney – violin
Blake Turner – viola
Sara Nelson – cello
Michael St. Clair – trombone
Derek Phelps – trumpet
Andy Beaudoin – drums
Einar Pedersen – bass
Gray Parsons – guitar and roto toms
Justin Sherburn – piano and synthesizers
This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Texas Historical Foundation.
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