A Kurt Bestor Christmas

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Iam often asked why I started doing Christmas concerts 35 years ago. I usually explain that I chose to arrange Yuletide carols on that first album “An Airus Christmas” back in 1987 because people already loved the beloved carols with their memorable melodies even though they had no clue who “Kurt Bestor” was.

While that is technically true, I also wanted to capture my memories of the holidays in music form. Growing up and listening to the iconic Firestone Christmas Albums, I knew that music, unlike almost anything else, can transport the listener to the memories of Christmas’s past. One can almost smell the evergreen of the Christmas tree and the cinnamon wafting from the kitchen as the music plays. That first album and concert surprised me at how much it resonated with the listeners and the audience. So much so , that I just kept repeating the experience year after year after 35 years! I have been told that for many of my audience members the concert is a “family tradition.” I am honored by that, and it motivates me to make sure the each year’s show lives up to the expectations.

While I don’t have a theme for this year’s show, the word “unity” kept coming to mind as I prepared for the concert. Christmas music is unique because, for a few short weeks each year, K-Pop dancing teenagers, rock and rolling Gen X-ers can sit down with their Beatle-loving parents and Frank Sinatra swooning grandma and all listen to the same music. That “coming together” is what is my favorite thing about performing “A Kurt Bestor Christmas” year after year. By the way, I just made a goal of making it to 50 years of doing this concert so mark your calendars!

Merry Christmas to you all and here’s to a healthy and happy New Year!

Kurt’s THANK YOU’S

I do my best to thank all those who help make “A Kurt Bestor Christmas” happen each year from the stage but I also want to do it here.  Although my name is on the marque, it takes so many people to pull this off and I really can’t thank them enough for their contribution.

To the incredible musicians who take my notes and make them sound much better than I ever imagined, I say “thanks” for your years of hard work and practice. To my stage, lighting and audio people, Stewart, Matt, Bob, Eric, et.al. - you all handle the crazy schedule I give you and somehow still pull it off. To the show promoter and my friends at MagicSpace, thanks for believing in the “hometown boy” year after year. To my management - Kevin, Carrie, Eric, and Sara - I know that smile you always greet me with backstage covers up all the headaches the concert causes, but it’s much appreciated. We are all one happy family and I look forward to our Holiday “reunion” each and every year! Finally, to my wife Petrina - though you hate the spotlight, your support of me and my passion is truly what allows me to be my most creative.

Kurt

Kurt Bestor is an Emmy-award-winning and Grammy-nominated composer who, for almost 40 years, has composed and arranged music in a myriad of styles and genres. His accomplishments include numerous feature-length film score, almost 20 popular albums, and memorable themes for national television themes, as well as a mix of live shows and commissioned works for choirs and orchestras.

As a gifted performer, Bestor has performed his popular Christmas shows for 34 years to sold-out audiences throughout the western United States. People from Seattle to Dallas have enjoyed his easy-going manner and rapport with the audience, as well as his distinctive arrangements of Yuletide favorites. When not performing his own music, Kurt spends much of his time arranging and producing music for a myriad of singers and instrumentalists including Kelly O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Jenny Oaks Baker, Megan Hilty, Andrea Bocelli, Caroline Campbell, and Brian Stokes Mitchell among many others.

Bestor has also performed internationally, conducting and performing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and the Estonian National Orchestra, among others. He recently completed a commissioned composition (by AFCO’s Craig Jessop), which is a 5-movement work for choir, brass, woodwinds, percussion, and 2 pianos, titled “John F. Kennedy: Rise, Fall, and Immortality.” It was premiered at the ACDA Convention in Dallas to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination. He is currently composing an original piece for narrator and orchestra titled “Hamon E and the Missing Key” which he hopes to premier in 2022.

He recently completed another Christmas album “Christmas Time is Here” which further cements the celebrated composer as a beloved contributor to the popular holiday music anthology.

Bestor makes his home in Salt Lake City with his wife Petrina and daughter Ella, where they spend much time hiking, skiing, and camping in the picturesque mountains surrounding his home.

LisaHopkins Seegmiller is America’s only Tony Award-winning, Grammy Award-nominated, Ivy League-educated singer and actress. She earned a B.A. in Theatre Studies from Yale University and an M.M. in Classical Voice from the Manhattan School of Music. An early protégé of Marlena Malas and Patricia McCaffrey of The Juilliard School and Curtis Institute, Lisa made her Broadway debut at the age of 24.

Lisa won a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre as Hollywood film director Baz Luhrmann’s leading lady in his historic production of Puccini’s La Bohème on Broadway. Lisa later received a Grammy Award Nomination for Best Opera Recording for her performance in the new comedic opera, Volpone, by John Musto & Mark Campbell. Lauded by top critics nationwide for her diverse performances throughout the U.S. and Europe, Lisa has been deemed “the kind of camera-ready young singer today’s marketing directors dream of.” Furthermore, Opera News, proclaims: “Fortunately, unlike all too many sotermed ‘total package’ artists these days, she can also sing.”

Lisa’s vocal, acting, and modeling capabilities expand beyond those of most classically-trained opera singers from top conservatories. Since her early career achievements on Broadway and in opera, Lisa has not only crossed over into the realms of belt/mix and legit musical theatre successfully but also into the worlds of pop and rock. She has garnered praise for such style-diverse and iconic roles as the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Grizabella in CATS. Critics described her performance as Grizabella “show-stopping as this washedup glamour cat,” and reported that Lisa delivered a “transfixing rendition of ‘Memory.’”

Lisa currently demonstrates her ability to navigate these varied genres in her one-woman multi-media show entitled “Billboard & Operatic Hits of the Decades,” which showcases Lisa’s renditions of Year-End No. 1 Billboard Hits from across the decades, interspersed with hit opera arias. This unique show spans genres of post-war bigband pop, Italian/American music, Golden Age musical theatre, disco, rock, adult contemporary, upbeat dance-pop, and straight-up pop with country and new wave influences and has left audiences breathless across the nation. Additionally, Lisa has appeared on ABC with Katie Couric and on NBC at Radio City Music Hall and has appeared in top fashion magazines, including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Elle, and British Elle magazines. She has been the subject of photographs and sketches by some of the world’s most famous photographers and artists, including Douglas Kirkland, photographer of Marilyn Monroe, photographers Herb Ritts of Vogue and Annie Leibovitz of Vanity Fair, and the legendary sketch artist Al Hirschfeld.

A native of California, Lisa resides in the Southwest with her husband manager and their four young children.

Billboard#1 artist Dr. Josh Wright has delighted audiences across the United States and in Europe. The Washington Post described him as a pianist possessing “rarer gifts – touch, intelligence and the ability to surprise.” He performed his debut recitals at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall) and the Kennedy Center (Terrace Theater) in 2014. His self-titled album “Josh Wright” topped the Billboard Classical Traditional chart just three weeks after its release in April 2011. He also performed at Dolby Theater in Los Angeles as part of America’s Got Talent Season 9. Josh served on the piano faculty at the University of Utah from 2016-2021.

Josh earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan. He earned a Master of Music degree and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Utah. His principal teachers are Dr. Logan Skelton and Dr. Susan Duehlmeier. He has also studied privately with concert pianist, Sergei Babayan. Josh is married to Dr. Lindsey Wright, who earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Utah.

Josh was a prizewinner at the 2015 National Chopin Competition, and also won the Mazurka prize. He won third prize and the audience prize at the 2014 Washington International Piano Competition, first prize at the 2013 Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition, first prize at the 2013 Rosamond P. Haeberle Piano Award competition, the gold medal at the 2010 Seattle International Piano Competition, and first prize at the 2010 American Protége International Competition of Romantic Music. He was the second prize winner of the 2011 Music Teachers National Association National Competition. He was also a top prizewinner in the New York Piano Competition, the Louisiana International Piano Competition, and the Julia Crane International Piano Competition.

Josh has appeared numerous times with symphony orchestras including: the Utah Symphony, Temple Square Orchestra, Salt Lake Symphony, Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, Great Falls Symphony Orchestra, Chopin Foundation Orchestra, Southwest Symphony, American West Symphony, SummerArts Orchestra, and the University of Utah Student Chamber Orchestra.

He has released seven albums, including Sleigh Ride for Two (2017) Meditation (2015), My Favorite Things (2013), Josh Wright (2011), Gaspard (2010), The Complete Chopin Etudes (2003), and Josh Wright Debut (2000).

In addition to performing, Josh is passionate about teaching. He has created numerous online video courses to help students of all ages and abilities improve their technique and musicality. He has appeared as a guest lecturer and masterclass presenter at several festivals and colleges, including the 2021 Online Global Piano Summit, 2021 Young Artist Piano Camp, Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Amalfi, Italy), University of Utah International Keyboard Institute (Salt Lake City, UT), Utah Valley University Piano Festival (Provo, UT), BYU-Idaho (Rexburg, ID), Snow College (Ephraim, UT), Castle Rock Music Camp (St. George, UT) and Shoreline Community College (Seattle, WA). He has broadened his studio through online lessons where he teaches lessons to students on four different continents via Zoom and Skype

Josh is a listed Steinway Artist. He was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in October 2019. He was also the piano double on the popular WB TV Series Everwood.

Makenzie

Hart is a three-time Utah Symphony Salute-to-Youth winner, and a two-time winner of the Utah Music Teachers Association. She is a Utah Stradivarius competition winner, Young Artist competition winner, and won the Southwestern States division in the Music Teachers National Association strings competition twice. She has soloed with the Timpanogos Symphony and the Utah Valley Symphony. In 2013, she was privileged to play for the General Young Women’s Session of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that featured her in a world-wide broadcast. Makenzie has soloed and performed with Jenny Oaks Baker (Grammy nominated American Violinist) in a number of concerts in 2019. She has worked with Areta Zhulla (member of the Juilliard String Quartet), Rohan De Silva, Natasha Brofsky, Samuel Rhodes, Masao Kawasaki, Mei-Ann Chen (director of the Chicago Sinfonietta), Robert Lipsett (The Colburn School), Arnold Steinhardt and Midori Goto (The Curtis Institute of Music), Danielle Belen and David Halen (University of Michigan School of Music), Andres Cardenes (Carnegie Mellon University School of Music), Simon James (San Francisco Conservatory of Music), Chad Hoopes, and Will Hagen, among others. She has formerly studied with Denise Willey, Deborah Moench, and Eugene Watanabe at the Gifted Music School as a Starling Scholar. Makenzie holds a scholarship at The Juilliard School, and is a sophomore studying under Laurie Smukler. Her other interests include traveling, singing, dancing, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with family and friends.

Eliza Hart is a remarkable violinist that has performed and soloed with Jenny Oaks Baker throughout the last two years. She has soloed with the Utah Symphony twice, and is a winner of the Utah Music Teachers Association, ASTA Competition, and the Utah Symphony Youth Guild. Twice, she has participated in the prestigious Sounded Point Academy held at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, as well as Center Stage Strings held at the University of Michigan in the summer of 2021. Eliza has worked with Ian Swensen and Simon James (San Francisco Conservatory of Music), Laurie Smukler (The Juilliard School), Danielle Belen and David Halen (University of Michigan School of Music), Robert Lipsett (The Colburn School), Jenny Oaks Baker (Grammy nominated American Violinist), among others. Eliza began playing the violin at age three, and has previously studied with Denise Willey, Deborah Moench, and Corine Hart. She is a Starling Scholar at the Gifted Music School studying with Eugene Watanabe. Eliza is actively involved as a senior at Olympus High School maintaining a 4.0 GPA and is well-loved by her professors and peers. Her other interests include traveling, singing, dancing, reading, and hiking. Makenzie and Eliza regularly perform together with their family on Temple Square and other cities throughout Utah. In 2015, they were privileged to give a private concert for The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Makenzie and Eliza have performed internationally throughout Europe, China, India and Brazil. They hope the audience will find peace in the music presented tonight. Happy Holidays!

CONNECTING TODAY ’ S BRIGHT MINDS WITH A BETTER TOMORROW.

Proud to support Broadway at the Eccles.

MASKS

ASSISTIVE LISTENING DEVICES

MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES IN THE VENUE.

QUIET PLEASE

FM Assistive Listening Devices are available free of charge at each performance on a first-come, firstserved basis. Hearing aid compatible T-Loops are also available. Ask at Coat Check for details.

WHEELCHAIR SEATING

Ample wheelchair seating is available. Please inform Ticket Office representative when making your reservation that you require a wheelchair space or to request curbside assistance.

LATECOMERS

In consideration of patrons already seated, reserved seating will be accessible until curtain, after which alternate seating might be used. During some productions, late seating may not occur until an intermission. When traveling to performances, please allow ample time for traffic delays, road construction and parking.

CHILDREN

As a courtesy to other audience members, please ensure that children at performances are not disruptive during the show. Babes-in-arms are not permitted in the theatre during performances unless specifically indicated.

NO OUTSIDE FOOD OR DRINK

As a courtesy to performers on stage and to other audience members, please turn off cell phones, pagers, or any other noisemaking device. Also, please refrain from permitting concession items such as candy wrappers and water bottles to become noisy during the performance.

CLEANLINESS

Thank you for placing all refuse in waste receptacles as you exit the theater.

COPYRIGHT ADHERENCE

Unless otherwise stated and in compliance with copyright laws, it is strictly prohibited to take any photographs or any audio or video recordings of the performance.

NEED EXTRA LEG ROOM?

Let us know when making reservations, we can help.

EMERGENCY INFORMATION

In the event of an emergency, please remain seated and wait for instructions. Emergency exits are located on both sides of the house. Please identify the exit closest to your location. (Eccles-only) Patrons in wheelchairs should wheel to the closest elevator to the north or south where red signs read ‘Area of Rescue Assistance.’ First-responders will help you exit the building.

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Utah 84106 Phone: 801.467.8833 Email: advertising@millspub.com Website: millspub.com Mills Publishing produces playbills for many performing arts groups. Advertisers do not necessarily agree or disagree with content or views expressed on stage. Please contact us for playbill advertising opportunities. Copyright 2022.

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Kurt Bestor Christmas playbill is published by Mills Publishing, Inc., 772 East 3300 South, Suite 200, Salt Lake City,

SHEN YUN’s unique artistic vision expands theatrical experience into a multi-dimensional, inspiring journey through one of humanity’s greatest treasures—the five millennia of traditional Chinese culture. Featuring one of the world’s oldest art forms—classical Chinese dance—along with patented scenographical effects and all-original orchestral works, Shen Yun opens a portal to a civilization of profound wisdom and divine beauty.

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Ephraim

Stephen Christopher Anthony as ‘Evan Hansen’ and the North American touring company of DEAR EVAN HANSEN. Photo by Matthew Murphy