Celebrating Christmas with Emmy Award-winning composer Kurt Bestor has been a tradition for thousands of Utahns and visitors for 28 years, and for 15 years, he has performed locally at the Egyptian Theatre.
“Kurt is a legend in Utah,” said theater manager Randy Barton. “He started off with the Osmonds, and he’s become this iconic artist with his composing and his performing skills. He’s such an exuberant person. That’s why he does so well every year at this time.”
Barton said it’s unusual to have someone who comes every single year for decades and is so popular.
“I still love seeing the show every single year,” he said. “It’s not like one of those performances where you feel like you’ve seen it, and you don’t need to see it again. It’s such a holiday tradition for so many locals. Even though he does a big show down in Salt Lake, the intimacy of our theater suits him so well, and he does change it up year after year.”
The holiday-themed show features his innovative takes on classics. And, with his five-CD boxed set, “The Complete Kurt Bestor Christmas,” he has plenty to choose from.
The Utah-based composer of music for television and movies — including the tune that introduces NFL Monday Night Football, as well as ABC’s coverage of the 1988 Winter Olympics — comes from a long line of professional musicians. His great uncle played trombone in Jack Benny’s band and wrote the likes of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” and the “J-E-L-L-O” ditty in Jell-O commercials, while his grandpa played trumpet in many popular Midwestern bands. His dad taught him to play trumpet, and his piano-playing mom originally inspired him to dream up his own tunes when he was about to quit playing the keys. At that moment, he became fascinated with the relationship between music and imagery.
“I didn’t know what she meant, but then she said, ‘You’re always sitting down and making stuff up on piano, and I want you to play me something that sounds like a sunrise.’ So I did. And probably it was terrible, but she made me feel like Beethoven that day,” Bestor said. “That combination of a good music heritage — genetically, I have the music coursing through my jeans — and my mom telling me that it was okay to not be the world’s greatest piano player, but to be a composer, that’s when it really started.”
“Jaws” premiered when he was in high school, and that’s when he knew for sure he wanted to compose music for film. Fate intervened when the producer of the “Donny & Marie” (Osmond) show contacted him to play the trumpet to fill in for the regular player, who was sick.
“I said, ‘Well, I have to skip school,’ and they said, ‘Well, you know, it pays $40 an hour,’ and I said, ‘Okay, yep. I’m skipping school,’” he said.
About a month later, the producer invited him to return, adding that he could write music for Dick Van Dyke’s appearance as the actor walked on stage.
“They said, ‘Can you have it done by tomorrow,’ and I said, ‘Sure.’ And then I got in the fetal position. But somehow I figured it out, which is a life lesion right there,” he said. “I could hear my notes being played by the saxophones and the trombones and the trumpets, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is awesome. This is what I want to be when I grow up. I just love this whole feeling.’ And that’s how it started for me professionally. I never really looked back.”
In 1987, he earned one of six fellowships at the Sundance Film Institutes Film Composer Lab, which allowed him to learn from master film composers. From there, he worked on projects ranging from a National Geographic documentary to feature films like “The Ghosts of Dickens’ Past,” Warner Brothers’ movies and PlayStation video games.
When he released his first Christmas album, “An Airus Christmas,” in 1988, everyone said it would fail because only one other contemporary instrumental Christmas album existed. Despite naysayers and a short marketing period with his October launch, he staged a sold-out, 2,500-seat concert, and the record became a best-seller. And thus, his annual holiday concert tradition began nationwide.
He views his music, and concerts, as “painting emotional pictures.”
“When I play Christmas music, I’m not just playing notes that were written back in the day. I’m taking those notes, and I’m doing it my way, which means I am trying to play those soft moments (like) when the kids go to bed, and you’re sitting by a fire. I know how to make music sound that way, or I know how to make music sound like you’re going down a hill like I did in Wisconsin, where I’m from, on a toboggan,” he said. “Christmas music has its melodies, but the way I do it, I’m making little mini-film scores that are looking for a film.”
He believes that entering the music business through the entertainment lens, as opposed through a conservatory, made him realize how important entertainment really is.
“People need to laugh and need to smile, and that’s a bit of my shtick anyway. I joke around a lot,” he said. “And that whole idea of painting a picture with music, that’s just the way I am. I can’t write just notes. I have to write feelings and emotions. I have to paint pictures of Christmases that I’ve experienced. That’s just the way I communicate with music. I’m going to make you feel the feelings.”
His personality shines throughout his performances, with his intention of making everyone feel like they’re in his living room in their jammies, just having a good time as he shares anecdotes.
“He’s just so welcoming to all people. He’s got that warm personality, and he’s a great talent,” Barton said. “He’s like the Frank Sinatra of Christmas. He always brings the best players with him, and they’re so in sync and so well-rehearsed. You can always rely on it being a real voyage of the history of the holidays. He gives so much detail into where the tunes came from, which nation and who wrote them. We think all the holiday tunes are ours, but they come from all around the world.”
As Bestor brings his trio to the Egyptian Theatre Dec. 23-25, they usher in a variety of genres, from classical to jazz, pop and ragtime.
“His musicianship and his compositions are wonderful, and I think it just gives people a feeling of joy, which is a great thing to have at this time of year, to forget about all the troubles and just enjoy the warmth of an evening of a great performance,” Barton said.
Bestor said he always looks forward to playing Park City.
“And that comes from the heart,” he said. “It has become a tradition. It’s the perfect way to end the season.”