After converting to Judaism, artist Carlos Mongrut finds spiritual connection with music

Attend “Seth” Carlos Mongrut’s performance, and you may come away with more than an appreciation for music.

Mongrut said he wants his poetry, music and dialogue with the audience to further a sense of connectedness. It’s a sense of brotherhood he said he’s felt since converting to Judaism.

“I took that connection that I had with God, and I went, ‘I can also make it an artistic connection to (create) something higher,” he said. “It’s not an egocentric thing. It’s not about me. It’s about the message. All these crazy things happening in the world, I believe we can bring positive things to the children, to the families, to the old people. That’s the message.”

He is set to perform at 2 p.m. Oct. 1 at Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave., followed by a 4 p.m. performance at Rainbow Library, 3150 N. Buffalo Drive. His show is part of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District’s programming for National Hispanic Heritage Month.

Mongrut has performed in Las Vegas before, appearing at the library, his favorite place to put on a show, he said. The instrumentalist-singer is so passionate about his music, he is footing the bill to come to Las Vegas from his home in Dallas and give the free performances.

“To me, Las Vegas is my artistic home,” he said. “Even though I started performing in Florida, it’s in Las Vegas where I feel like I pulled it all together; the poetry, the music.”

His aunt was a famous poet in his homeland of Peru. She died of breast cancer when he was a small child, but he has a lasting memory of her, leading him to her library and handing him a book on spiritualism. It’s a volume he’s referred to all his life.

“I felt that, in that moment, she was telling me, ‘You’ll be the one to succeed me, to carry on the blood of poets and further it,’ ” he said.

Johnny Stomp, himself a musician who works in production, has known Mongrut for years and performed alongside him.

“(His music is) very deep, it feels, like, you know, very emotional,” he said. “Carlos is very talented, super talented. He’s very much in touch with the audience, with every song.”

Mongrut, born in Lima, calls himself a “piano experimentalist.” After his first private class as a teen with Peruvian pianist and composer Aldo Guardia, his life changed forever: He showed Guardia a draft of his first piano composition, “Sensible Obra I.” After that, the focus of his instruction changed from formal piano to composition.

The audience can expect a mix of piano and poetry for the first half of the hourlong library performances and all music for the latter half.

Visit reverbnation.com/carlosmongrut. For more on the performances, visit lvccld.org.

To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.