Justin Sherburn

Justin Sherburn and his wife Sara, two members of Montopolis, of Austin TX, performed a pop-up outreach program at Reel Pizza Cinerama in downtown Bar Harbor in August 2020, during the height of the pandemic. The ensemble produces live multimedia events that combine original music with projected imagery and storytelling.

NPS Photo by Jay Elhard

Justin Sherburn

Justin Sherburn is a composer, producer, and musical director based in Austin, Texas. He composes for feature films, theater and dance as well as writing and recording with his group Montopolis. The Montopolis ensemble produces multimedia events that combine original music with projected imagery and storytelling themed around geographic points of interest. Inspired by the landscape, Sherburn hopes to inspire environmental stewardship in others through his art.

In 2019, he was awarded the Innovations grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. His previous awards include the audience award at SXSW Film Festival, "Best Music" at the Ocean Blue Film Festival, the B Iden Payne award for best musical director and best original score, and the Austin Critics Table award for Music Composition. He has had a long and varied career as a touring musician, working with indie rock group Okkervil River, the tango orchestra “Glovertango” and the swing band 8 1/2 Souvenirs, sharing the stage with legends such as Willie Nelson, Roky Erickson, Brian Setzer and Wilco, and appearing on television shows and major festival stages throughout the world.

As a musician, Justin Sherburn has had a decades long career as a pianist and guitarist performing jazz, rock, folk and tango and embracing the traditional role that each of these genres demand. As a composer, he draws on these traditions within a modern classical and rock framework. His original compositions combine traditional orchestral instrumentation with analog synthesizers, digital programming, and field recordings. Learn more about his work at montopolismusic.com

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