Sarnia composer scoring the music of a famous children’s classic

Posted October 26, 2021 in Featured | First page | New

Tara Jeffrey

Erica Procunier grew up watching the beloved Thomas the Tank Engine, as well as millions of children around the world.

So she still has to pinch herself when telling people that she is now marking the music of the iconic character.

Erica Procunier

“I love this show,” said the Bright’s Grove native and high school graduate St. Christopher. “Did I ever think I would work on something so famous?” No.

“It’s part of the story, isn’t it?” She added. “I feel so lucky to be a part of it.”

The famous film and television composer was commissioned by Canadian animation studio Nelvana Enterprises to compose the music for “Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!”

The series is an animated reboot of the popular Thomas & Friends franchise, now airing on Treehouse in Canada and Cartoon Network in the United States, and is slated to air on Netflix later this month.

Procunier will mark all 104 episodes, as well as two one-hour specials.

“We had to stay away from the old score of the original,” Procunier said of the classic television series that launched in 1984.

“It’s nice to be able to start fresh and brand new, but the old music is so recognizable that I really had to avoid it, and not think about it at all.

“So I started off by coming up with some new themes for the characters,” she said of Thomas and his friends, including Percy, Gordon, James and a new bullet train named Kana – the train on it. fastest of the island of Sodor.

“It made sense to put its theme in a more electronic music palette… which is really interesting because the sound of the show is very traditionally orchestral.”

Procunier, who was recently nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her work on the Apple TV + Ghostwriter series, has an impressive resume working in film, television, and other media. In 2016, she was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto International Film Festival to compose the score for ‘DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver ”, a live film concert in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday.

Procunier started playing the piano at the age of seven and was a regular at the Lambton County Music Festival growing up. She earned a Masters in Music Composition from Western University and often returns home to support events like the South West International Film Festival (SWIFF) in Sarnia.

While working on Thomas and his friends, Procunier also signs a feature film – a thriller – and a series on nature on the Great Lakes.

“I like having diversity in my projects and I really like being able to explore all of these different facets of my sound,” she said. “It makes things interesting.

“I’m just going to keep moving forward,” she added, laughing. “I have a lot of train puns.”