Robert Milton Cundick Sr. (born 1926) is a Latter-day Saint composer. He was also for many years one of the organists of the Mormon Tabernacle and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Cundick grew up in Sandy, Utah. By age 12, he had become the organist in his congregation. Cundick received a degree in music from BYU in 1957.[1] Cundick was a Tabernacle Organist from 1964–1991, and for a time he was also a professor at Brigham Young University. Since his retirement as Tabernacle Organist, Cundick has sought to publicize serious works of Utah and Mormon composers.[2] In 2004 he won the Life Time achievement Pearl Award.
The current English LDS hymnal has two hymns with music by Cundick: hymn number 198 "That Easter Morn" (words by Marion D. Hanks) and hymn number 279 "Thy Holy Word" (words by Marvin K. Gardner). Cundick has written many vocal works, such as the cantata The Song of Nephi, as well as The Redeemer,[3] an oratorio with the text selected by Brigham Young University professor Ralph Woodward.[4] Cundick also provided music for the 2004 film Woman, The Pioneer, and he composed the music for The Brothers, a musical play based on the life of Karl G. Maeser, with text by Keith Engar.[5] Most recently, Cundick composed the music to an oratorio with text by David A. Bednar, performed in the fall of 2009 by the BYU-Idaho choirs and orchestras.[6]