![]() He later went on a two-year religious mission in Yugoslavia, where he observed social problems such as homelessness and poverty. In 1977 Bestor and his family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was also influenced by classical music. I have made a goal to score films ever since." He decided to compose soundtracks for movies which he went on to do for The Buttercream Gang and Rigoletto. When Bestor watched the 1975 film Jaws, he later recalled "I knew that's what I wanted to do when I saw Jaws during high school. ![]() Later on Kurt Bestor and his family moved to Orem, Utah in 1966, where he attended Orem High School and learned how to play the trumpet. His grandpa played the trumpet in Western Big bands and his uncle played with the trumpet in Jack Benny's band. He took piano lessons from his mother as a child. Kurt Bestor was born in 1958 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He is also known for composing music for the 1993 movie Rigoletto, and for writing music for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic games, as well as various official the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints videos.Ī longtime Utah resident, Bestor plays concerts in Salt Lake City and the Western states. His best-known songs are "Prayer of the Children", "Mama Don't You Weep". ![]() He is known for his instrumental Christmas arrangements. Kurt Bestor performs his famous song, "Prayer of the Children," with Sam Cardon, Keni Yarbro, and Paul Engemann.Kurt Bestor (born 1958) is an American keyboardist and composer specializing in new-age, film scores, and jazz. His most recent project was a classical commission by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra – a piece written for choir, orchestra, children's choirs, and 500 bell ringers commemorating the rededication of the Utah State Capitol.īestor, his wife Petrina, and their children make their home at the foot of the mountains in Salt Lake City. The year 2008 marks Bestor's 20th year of sold-out Christmas shows. Garrison Keillor-meets-John Williams," he laughs. Featuring as many as 45 other musicians on stage, Bestor's concerts are major productions, but his warm storytelling and humor create an intimate rapport with his audience. He often spends an average of one week out of every month performing, with a full time concert schedule during the Christmas season. It is Bestor's music that has introduced NFL Monday Night Football, and National Geographic Explorer he scored TBS's Wild! Life Adventures and the IMAX film "The Great American West." He also was given the Outstanding Film Score Award at the New York Film and Television Festival for his music for PBS's "A More Perfect Union." Bestor was awarded an Emmy® for his collaboration with Sam Cardon on the original music for ABC's coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics. His credits include more than 40 film scores and more than 40 themes for national TV programs and commercials. Perhaps best known for his innovative interpretation of seasonal carols found in his popular 5-CD boxed set "The Complete Kurt Bestor Christmas," the Utah based composer and performer launched his career writing music for television and movies. There, he studied with master film composers Dave Grusin, Alan Silvestri and David Raksin.Įven while Bestor's scoring career flourished, leading to such projects as music for the National Geographic documentary on the sinking of the Andrea Doria, a second large screen film "Sedona," the feature film "The Ghosts of Dicken's Past," and the Warner Brothers film "Scarecrow," he expanded his career to include original recordings and increasingly popular concerts. In 1987, he was one of only six recipients of a fellowship at the Sundance Film Institutes Film Composer Lab. While enrolled in college, Bestor began writing music for student films, gradually moving onto documentaries and eventually into the feature film score arena. As he picked up the trumpet, his dream was to compose scores for motion pictures. ![]() Kurt began playing the piano, and during his practices, his mother would encourage him to compose music to visual images. Great uncle played trombone in Jack Benny's band. He came from a musical family-his grandfather played trumpet in many popular mid-western big bands, and a Bestor was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes casually called the Mormon Church, or LDS). For more than a three decades, Kurt Bestor's film scores, television themes, compositions and carols have provided an indelible soundtrack of American life.
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