Kurt Heinecke

Last updated

Kurt Henry Heinecke (born January 10, 1963) is an American composer, musician, songwriter, photographer, and voice actor. He was the music director at Big Idea Entertainment, creators of the animated VeggieTales. He is the Assistant Artistic Director at Music City Strings.

Contents


Biography

Early life

Heinecke was born in Wisconsin on January 10, 1963, and raised in Cullman, Alabama. He came from a musical family, his mother played the organ and was a member of the church choir. During his years at junior high he and his friends started a jazz band called Deathstar which later disbanded in high school. After graduation in 1982, Heinecke studied at the music lab at the University of Montevallo. He also went to study at Luther College where he got his B.A. in band and choral conducting.[ citation needed ]

Music career

After touring around the country and serving as a teacher in the Bahamas, Kurt finally settled down in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois where he later became Director of Church Music at the Park Community Church. Serving as the choir director, he met Lisa who introduced him to her husband Phil Vischer and his friend Mike Nawrocki who would later co-found Big Idea Entertainment. Heinecke joined Phil and Mike and provided music for their video series VeggieTales. He also provided music for other Big Idea productions, such as 3-2-1 Penguins , Jonah and The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything . He has received six Dove Awards for his production work with Big Idea. He is also a producer, arranger, and performer at Oak Valley Studios and is the composer of the Adam Raccoon video series. Heinecke is currently composing the music for the CGI remake of Superbook . He is the Assistant Artistic Director at Music City Strings. [1] As of 2019, he has rejoined Big Idea as the music composer and producer for the new VeggieTales television series to be broadcast on TBN. [2]

Photography career

Heinecke took an interest in photography during junior high. He currently owns a photography studio in Franklin, Tennessee, his current residence. His photography includes concerts, events, weddings, and air shows.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

The 34th Annual GMA Dove Awards were held on April 10, 2003 recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 2002. The show was held at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and was hosted by CeCe Winans and Steven Curtis Chapman.

Phillip Roger Vischer is an American filmmaker, animator, author, puppeteer, and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated video series VeggieTales alongside Mike Nawrocki. He provided the voice of Bob the Tomato and about half of the other characters in the series. Currently, he owns a small film business, Jellyfish Labs, based in Wheaton, Illinois.

Silly Songs with Larry is a regular feature segment in Big Idea's cartoon series VeggieTales. Often secular, they generally consist of Larry the Cucumber singing a humorous novelty song either alone or with some of the other Veggie characters. Occasionally, another character, like Mr. Lunt, Bob the Tomato, Junior Asparagus, Laura Carrot, Archibald Asparagus, Oscar the Polish Caterer, and the French Peas Jean-Claude and Philippe, or an ensemble is featured in Larry's place. The Silly Songs have proven to be a very popular part of the show and have also prompted the release of several "sing-along" and compilation videos of these segments, some wrapped with new material that threads them into a fresh context. Some of the silly songs have been nominated for a GMA Dove Award.

<i>The Pirates Who Dont Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie</i> 2008 American film

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie is a 2008 American animated family adventure comedy film directed by Mike Nawrocki, written by Phil Vischer, produced by Big Idea and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the second of the two theatrical films to feature characters from the VeggieTales video series following Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie in 2002, and is the only VeggieTales media that does not explicitly mention God or Biblical morals. However, several scenes parallel Scripture, such as characters not knowing when the King will return.

<i>Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie</i> 2002 American film

Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie is a 2002 American animated Christian musical comedy adventure film produced by Big Idea Productions and released by Artisan Entertainment through its F·H·E Pictures label. It is the first of the two theatrical feature films in the VeggieTales series, before The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie (2008). The themes for the film are compassion and mercy, using two stories as illustrations linked by the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, who were first seen in the Silly Song of the same name in Very Silly Songs!. The first story takes place in the current day and concerns a mishap with Bob the Tomato and Dad Asparagus on the way to a concert; the second, set in ancient times, is based directly on the biblical story of Jonah. Through both stories, compassion and mercy play a role in giving people a second chance.

<i>The Star of Christmas</i> 2002 film

The Star of Christmas is a 2002 American animated film and is the eighteenth episode of the VeggieTales animated series and the second holiday special. It was released on October 26, 2002 and re-released on October 5, 2004, in Holiday Double Feature with its earlier episode The Toy that Saved Christmas. Like the other holiday episodes, it has no usual ”A Lesson in...” subtitle and the countertops. The film's message is that the true Star of Christmas is Jesus Christ. The movie emphasizes that the tale of Jesus Christ's birth is the epitome of real love and should, therefore, serve as society's model for how to love others.

Timothy Hodge is an American voice actor, story artist, writer, animator, comedian, and director at Big Idea Entertainment in Nashville, Tennessee, where he has works on the VeggieTales videos as well as other animated projects like 3-2-1 Penguins!.

Cullman High School is the only public high school in the city of Cullman, Alabama as well as the largest high school in Cullman County, Alabama. The school is classified as a 6A school and belongs to the Cullman City School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jam Filled Entertainment</span> Canadian animation studio

Jam Filled Entertainment is a Canadian animation studio based in Ottawa, Ontario, and a division of Boat Rocker Media. The company is best known for animating Thomas & Friends and Nicktoons.

The following is a list of albums released with songs from or based on the animated series VeggieTales.

VeggieTales is an American Christian CGI-animated series and franchise for children created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series stars Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber leading a variety of fruit and vegetable characters as they retell stories from the Bible and parody pop culture while also teaching life lessons according to a biblical world view.

Minno is an online subscription-based streaming media provider created by Erick Goss and Dan Raines. It specializes in Christian programming for children. Subscribers have access to over 2,300 episodes from 130 shows. Video is made available through applications for smartphones, tablets, and popular streaming devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV and Chromecast.

The 29th Annual GMA Dove Awards were held on April 25, 1997, recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 1996. The show was held at the Nashville Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and was hosted by Gary Chapman and CeCe Winans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Idea Entertainment</span> American Christian animation production company

Big Idea Productions, LLC was an American animation production company and is currently an in-name only unit, best known for its animated VeggieTales series of Christian-themed home videos.

<i>Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures</i> Animated series

Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures is an American direct-to-video animated children’s series developed by Tom Bancroft as a spin-off of the VeggieTales franchise created by Big Idea Entertainment. The first video titled "Larryboy and the Angry Eyebrows", was released on March 16, 2002. The videos came to an end with "The Good, The Bad and the Eggly!", released on June 10, 2003, due to Big Idea's bankruptcy. Unlike its predecessor VeggieTales, which was animated in CGI using Softimage 3D and later Autodesk Maya, LarryBoy was animated in 2D animation using Adobe Flash. From September 2006 to November 2009, NBC aired the content of all four videos on its Qubo block alongside airings of VeggieTales videos. LarryBoy also currently streams on Yippee TV, a Christian-based American children’s subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. Each video contains two segments, a twenty-minute long segment and a seven-minute short segment.

<i>VeggieTales in the House</i> American animated childrens television series

VeggieTales in the House is an American animated sitcom developed by Doug TenNapel and produced by Big Idea Entertainment, and animated by Bardel Entertainment. It picks up after VeggieTales, a Christian-themed video and film series, featuring anthropomorphic vegetables.

Michael Louis Nawrocki is an American animator, filmmaker, teacher, and voice actor best known as the co-creator of the Christian video series, VeggieTales where he voiced Larry the Cucumber. He voiced many other main characters on the show, including Jerry Gourd, and Jean-Claude Pea, and other various characters, is the co-founder of Big Idea Entertainment alongside Phil Vischer, and currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the company. He has directed several of their productions, including the award-winning Silly Songs with Larry segments from VeggieTales.

<i>VeggieTales in the City</i> 2017 American television series

VeggieTales in the City is an American animated sitcom produced by Big Idea Entertainment. The series is a sequel to VeggieTales in the House. It premiered on Netflix on February 24, 2017 with the release of 13 episodes. A second season was released on September 15, 2017. The series was removed from Netflix on September 16, 2023.

<i>The VeggieTales Show</i> Television series

The VeggieTales Show is an American Christian computer-animated television series created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki. The series served as a revival and sequel of the American Christian computer-animated franchise VeggieTales. It was produced through the partnerships of TBN, NBCUniversal, Big Idea Entertainment, and Trilogy Animation, and ran from October 22, 2019, to April 1, 2022.

References

  1. "Staff Bios". Music City Strings. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  2. "VeggieTales is Back: Brand New VeggieTales Show Trailer". VeggieTales Official. 2019-04-24. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14 via YouTube.