Kurt Bestor (born February 22, 1958) is an American keyboardist and composer specializing in new-age, orchestral arrangements,film scores, and jazz.
With over 25 albums of his own, Bestor also arranges music for other notable artists including violinists Caroline Campbell and Jenny Oaks Baker, award-winning vocalists Jennifer Warnesand Melissa Manchester, and popular classical-crossover cellist Stjepan Hauser.
He was also greatly influenced by classical composers, most notably Aaron Copland, Edward Elgar, Claude Debussy, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
This provided Kurt his first opportunity to create and arrange a large amount of music on a deadline, which would help him greatly as he later pursued his film scoring career.
Kurt Bestor's Christmas music received national radio airplay in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and continues to be heard today during seasonal broadcast periods.
He later went on to release Joyspring, Seasons, Evening Angels, An Airus Christmas Volume 2, and Innovators which featured Kurt's best-known composition "Prayer of the Children".
[4] Balancing career obligations with family duties became difficult and created distance between Bestor and his children, Kristin and Erika, both of whom were born with spina bifida, a spinal defect that causes partial paralysis and other disabilities.
In January 2003, Bestor married Petrina, a Kenyan-born safari consultant who moved to Utah after serving as an assistant to Robert Redford on the set of Out of Africa.