Crawford Gates

Crawford Marion Gates (December 29, 1921 – June 9, 2018) was an American musician, composer, and conductor known for his contributions to the body of music for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Early life and education Gates was born in San Francisco, December 29, 1921, and grew up in Palo Alto, California. He started playing piano at age eight and violin at age nine. from San Jose State University in 1943. From September 1944 until August 1945 he was stationed in Pearl Harbor but never sent into combat. He studied for his MA from Brigham Young University from 1946 to 1948, studying there with Leroy Robertson. full-time from 1950 to 1966. From 1982 to 1987 he was the Chair of Music at Beloit College. His works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, He composed and orchestrated the score from January until July 22, 1947, just before the first performance. The first performances were produced in the University of Utah stadium, which held 12,500 people at the time. He composed two hymns in the LDS hymn book: "Our Savior’s Love" and "Ring Out, Wild Bells", and wrote the music for two hymns in the LDS Children's Songbook: "On a Golden Springtime" and "Baptism".

In 1976, Gates premiered his Symphony No. 4: A New Morning based on a text by Carol Lynn Pearson, for the United States Bicentennial. Milton Barlow commissioned Gates to write the ballet Desert As A Rose for Utah's statehood centennial in 1996. Gates collaborated with William Auld to write an Esperanto hymn, which premiered at the 76th Universala Kongreso in 1991. Claudia Bushman, Gates's sister-in-law, encouraged him to write an opera on Joseph Smith. Gates wrote Joseph! Joseph!, which was performed in 2004 and 2005.

Gates's works have won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) every year from 1967 to 1989. In 1997, Gates received a Governor's Commendation from Tommy Thompson for his musical service in southern Wisconsin. In 1998, he received a Rotary Club Service Above Self award.

In 2010, the instrumental qualities of Gates's choral arrangements were the subject of a doctoral dissertation by Matthew Thompson at Kansas University.

Personal life Crawford Gates married Georgia Lauper on December 19, 1952. They had four children.

In other media Gates appears together with Gordon B. Hinckley and two other Latter-day Saint missionaries who visit the protagonists of the 2019 film The Fighting Preacher in order to tour the Sacred Grove on their ways home from missionary service. In fact, Gates's mission occurred seven years after Hinckley's, and concluded after the family he visits in the film had returned home. The Gates role is portrayed by Joseph Skousen.