When I was watching Forever In My Heart on the Hallmark Channel this past summer, I was blown away by the music in the film. Interestingly enough, I noticed that the composer of the music was live-tweeting as well, and upon further research, I determined it was high time for her to be featured on my site. Thankfully, she was in full agreement, and as good fortune has smiled upon her, she has quickly become a favorite amongst the Hallmark “powers that be.” In anticipation of the new Christmas movie, which premieres tonight on which she acted as composer, Time For You To Come Home For Christmas, it is my supreme honor to highlight the dynamic artist herself, Nathalie Bonin.

Photo by Sophie Carrière

RH: Please tell us about your background and education and how that led you to pursue a career in music/music composition.

NB: I was born in San Francisco from French Canadian parents and grew up mainly in Montreal, where I started the violin when I was four years old. I was a single child and my mother’s dream was to homeschool me, which she did until I was fourteen! This gave me an incredible opportunity to focus on music, while learning general subjects at a faster pace. Between the ages of eight and fourteen, I participated in and won numerous prizes in local and national music competitions and soloed with a few orchestras. Being homeschooled also helped when my parents decided to take a sabbatical that ended up lasting four years, during which we lived in New York City.

Photo by Empay Photographe – © 2013

At the age of twelve, I became a member of the New York Youth Symphony (Conductor: David Alan Miller, now Artistic Director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra). I had teachers from Julliard and Manhattan School of Music and took some music courses at the Aaron Copland School of Music (Queens College). Those years were amazing. With the NYYS, we performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center regularly, gave chamber music concerts around town and I gave a few recitals as well as a soloist.

When I was fourteen, my parents had to go back to Montreal and I started to go to high school, which was quite an adaptation from homeschooling. After three years, I was accepted in the music program at McGill University, where I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in violin performance with High Honors. I always wanted to learn more about life and culture so I also took Italian and Chinese classes, Martial arts and dance classes. By the age of seventeen, I had already started subbing in the Orchestre Métropolitain (Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, now conductor at the MET Opera in NY and Philadelphia Orchestra).

But when I graduated, doubts crept in mainly because I was dating a medical doctor that was saving lives every day. I felt useless practicing notes for hours every day! The fact that my father was a psychologist and my mother had a biochemistry background also influenced me and I decided to do my pre-med while working as a musician around town. But when I got officially accepted in Med School, I had to choose and that was hard. It took a solo trip to Italy for a whole summer to realize I was a musician at the core; that was my should be my purpose. So I came back and left medicine… and the doctor!

Aerial Violin Performance at Château Frontenac, Quebec, Canada

But this trip made me realize I needed to make music in a different way. I wanted to be more creative so I started playing with world music and jazz bands, toured with pop singers, recorded for CD and soundtracks and took part in numerous musicals. This was a very fun period of travelling and exploring music and styles. And this is during one of those tours that I started taking Berklee Online courses (because travelling does take time!). I loved it so much that I ended up doing the whole Master’s Certificate in Composition for Film and TV! While doing the program I started landing pitches for TV shows in Montreal and did a few main titles and French Canadian series.

In 2015, my life changed. I got divorced and my son Felix was already sixteen. I ended up making a trip to Los Angeles and when I landed immediately knew this is where I wanted to be. I gave myself three years to make the move and am proud to say I did it that last year. Many challenges were on my path, but I worked hard and would not give up on this dream. I had a few mentors like Michael A. Levine (Cold Case, Siren), Andy Hill and Christopher Young, who helped me so much during that time.

What was your first professional credit in the film/TV industry and what are your memories of that project?

at Berklee

My very first credit was for a documentary series Ça se soigne (It can be healed) in Montreal, but that was a little random in my career. I remember sending my demo on a cassette tape–haha!!

What I consider to be my first big credit is for a National French Canadian CBC prime time TV show called Prière de ne pas envoyer de fleurs (please don’t send flowers). The show is still running today!

I remember I had just taken my first class on film scoring with Berklee Online when I pitched for the show. I had such limited gear that I used a sample library promotion which gave me two weeks to have access to any sound to create my theme. As the trial period was just about to expire, I got the gig and ended up buying that library. This was my official start as a composer ten years ago.

Peter Porte, Italia Ricci Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Philippe Antonello

I believe your first Hallmark work was Rome In Love. What was your familiarity with the network before working on this film? How was this first Hallmark experience for you?

Yes, Rome In Love was my first movie with Hallmark and I thought it was very special that my first TV movie would be shot in Italy where I made that important life decision to come back to music.

I did not really know about Hallmark since it was not as known in Canada, so I had to watch a few movies to familiarize myself with the content. I love how it is always so heartwarming 🙂

Credit: ©2019 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Steffan Hill

Recently, we saw the film Forever in My Heart. What did you enjoy/appreciate about this second Hallmark movie experience?

I loved composing for this movie. Ireland is so beautiful and inspiring and the story was very sweet. As a violinist, I almost always play on my music when there is violin and this gave me a chance to do some Irish fiddling which was so much fun!

It was also wonderful to be able to work with the actors who were singing and performing live on camera. The movie also gave me quite a challenge: compose my first official song ever! “Jenna’s Song” had to be composed in just four days for the actors to be able to shoot the scenes because of location availability so this was quite a challenge–haha!

What other upcoming works/appearances you can mention?

Thrilled to have composed the music for the movie Time For You To Come Home For Christmas produced by Blake Shelton!!

Conducting her piece “The Bride” during LAFCI at the Warner Brother Clint Eastwood Scoring Stage in January 2017.

I am also going back to Montreal after this movie to perform on a Christmas tour in Montreal with Tocadéo, a four-part male vocal band I’ve played with for twelve years. They are like my brothers 🙂

I can also say, more Hallmark movie scores will happen in the new year, so be sure to watch out for them! There’s one that will be filmed in Vienna, and one that recently wrapped starring Ryan Paevey and Taylor Cole.

Going forward with Hallmark, I know you’ve expressed an interest in working with the network to determine the possibility of potentially releasing an album soundtrack from Hallmark movie(s). The fans appear to be interested. Do you see this as a possibility in the future? Why or why not?

I would love for this to happen. Music is such an important aspect of a movie. And I am happy to see that fans seem to be interested in being able to listen to some of the soundtracks. This is a project that is dear to my heart and I hope I can help make it happen. I think soundtracks are a way to remind ourselves of the movies we love. You can just listen to a melody and the whole story comes back.

What is your advice to other musicians who may wish to pursue a career in composing music for TV/movies?

At Lincoln Center

Study hard, play a lot, travel as much as possible, have a filled life since this is what will inspire you the most when composing. Once you know the tools, you need content which only life can bring.

So dare to challenge yourself to try many things. To get specifically into the industry, you have to be seen and heard; no one will search for you if you hide in your basement.. go out, network, use social media.

For me, workshops have been a chance to showcase my work ethics and I can trace most of my jobs to recommendations that came from past mentors. Never underestimate an opportunity!

And the most important thing…. Believe in yourself!! I’d rather fail than have regrets. And one of my favourite quotes is: “Jump and the net will appear!”

What is your favorite genre of music to play? To listen to? Elaborate if you’d like.

I can’t really pick one style. I love to discover new styles and artists. I believe music is endless. But I do have a few favorite composers like Mahler, Brahms, Debussy in Classical music. It’s hard in Film, TV and Games… just so many I listen to.. I love Thomas Newman, Alan SIlvestri, Nicolas Brittel, Howard Shore, Neal Acree, Nathan Barr… the list goes on… I also love to listen to jazz, country and world music when I relax with a good glass of red wine 🙂

I find Nathalie’s story not only fascinating, but inspirational as well. She could have chosen to take the safe route when her life took some unexpected turns, but Nathalie chose to follow her true calling in music, and we are now the benefactors of her intrepid decision. I know firsthand how picking up the pieces after divorce can be a devastatingly daunting experience, but I thank God for the fact that she has embraced her love and passion in the world of music. She has definitely become an asset to the world of film and TV, and now Hallmark has snatched her up with open arms. And somehow, I don’t think they’re going to let her go any time soon!!

Please tune in to Hallmark Movies & Mysteries tonight (December 8th) for the premiere of Time For You To Come Home For Christmas in order to watch and luxuriate in the first Christmas movie for which Nathalie has worked for Hallmark! And while you’re making plans to savor this film, why not visit her links below and consider following her on social media? After all, her music will be featured in at least two highly-anticipated films in 2020, and who knows how many more films will be added to her repertoire next year? She is the very epitome of one who has harnessed her passions and continued to labor intensively and reach for the stars even when things looked bleak, and she is now reaping the benefits of a life lived authentically. I am grateful to her for sharing with my readers and me today, and I am profoundly expectant for what next year and beyond will bring her way!

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