By Emily Miller

REXBURG—I’ve been thinking over the last few days about what could be said about last weekend’s Kurt Bestor concert, “Return to Magic,” which featured every music program from Madison High School. Every band, every orchestra and every choir. It was quite spectacular.

I left the concert feeling so much gratitude. Gratitude to Bestor for sharing his talents and time with our community, and especially with our youth. Gratitude to the student musicians who performed so beautifully and worked so hard to put on a great show. Gratitude to the teachers and administration at the high school for their efforts and support of those student musicians. Gratitude to parents who support and encourage their children’s talents.

Mostly I felt gratitude for living in Rexburg. How many communities of our size have the privilege of experiencing an event like that? It is really quite special to have so many talented people in our relatively small community. And what a treat to have a world-class musician like Bestor share his music with all of us, in a way that gave students such a memorable experience.

Bestor arrived in Rexburg early enough to spend some time rehearsing at school with the students. During the concert, he and the high school’s music directors cooperated seamlessly as they led some of the pieces together.

By some stroke of luck, I was able to get a front-row seat and see it all up close, though I’m sure the concert was just as good from any seat.

Bestor shared stories from his youth and let us in on his creative process as he played a never-before-performed medley of “O Holy Night,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” “Silent Night,” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The medley was in honor of his mother who taught him when he was a child that “it’s okay to not play Bach or Beethoven, as long as you play Bestor.”

He called the medley a “world premier—because it hasn’t been written yet.”

But, of course, most of the pieces were rehearsed to perfection. The first note out of the joint choirs on the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah caused my husband and me to look at one another with a “Wow. They sound good.”

The vocal and instrumental soloists couldn’t have been better, and I’ll never get over the high level of skill that many of our young musicians have here in Rexburg. And the number of students involved blows me away. Each grade-level orchestra at the jr. high has more musicians than my whole high school orchestra had when I was growing up in a similarly-sized community. I believe that’s a credit to excellent music educators, supportive administration, and parents who value music education. And, of course, the students who put their hearts into it.

I enjoyed the concert so much, and tried to imagine what it would have been like to participate in such a high-caliber production as a high school student. I hope they recognize what a unique experience that was. I hope they enjoyed being a part of it as much as I enjoyed being in the audience.

Many thanks to Bestor for donating 100% of the proceeds from the concert to the music programs at the high school. I caught up with his sister, Rexburg resident Jill Anderson, to see why Bestor is willing to donate his time, talents, and profits to our community.

“He loves to come here because of the incredible fine arts program,” Anderson says. “This was the fourth benefit concert he has done and did a $100 a plate dinner/concert when I was with the Madison Education Foundation. He is a very generous and supportive friend of the arts.”

“Return to the Magic” gave us many moments of Christmas cheer, and reminders to be good and kind to one another. It was the perfect way to celebrate the season.

Merry Christmas!

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