Stephan Moccio’s studio is a hive of activity. Hidden on the basement
level of a non-descript building on a charming stretch of Toronto’s King Street East, it buzzes with an
electricity undetectable from the street above.
Moccio — with his tall, dark good looks and mass of perfect curls — is on the phone, speaking animatedly in
French, then English, then French again. He sits down with a flurry of apologies. “Everything’s going on --
scheduling, scheduling, scheduling right now,” he says. The weekend before we meet, he was in a Montreal
recording session with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for the Olympic theme he wrote for CTV. “It went
brilliantly,” he says. “It was an exciting weekend for all of us. Right now we’re literally in the middle of
finalizing production, recording and preparation for all the Olympic cues...”
For pianist-producer-composer-arranger-songwriter Moccio, who’s written songs for fellow Quebecois, superstar
Celine Dion (“A New Day Has Come”) and the Oprah-beloved prodigy Josh Groban, this is a dream — long in the
making — come true. “I’m passionate about the Olympics, particularly the Winter Games,” he says. Nearly 22
years ago, when he was still a young, teen-aged pianist, Moccio heard the theme for the 1988 Winter Games in
Calgary, written by uber-producer David Foster. “I said, ‘You know that would be cool, I’d love to do that
one day. Whenever the games come back to Canada I’m going to go for it,’” says Moccio. Low and behold, in
2003 Vancouver won its bid for the 2010 Winter Games and Moccio had his chance. “I actually wrote it three or
four years ago with the Olympics in mind, knowing that Vancouver had it,” he says. It was then up to Moccio
to pursue the Olympic Consortium and the “powers that be at CTV.” They loved it. He then spent the 11 months
prior to our interview writing.
“There’s over 200 cues of music, which is huge, and there’s over 100 pages of manuscript and score, because
I’m doing all the arrangemnets myself...” says Moccio. “It’s full time.”
I am lucky enough to get a preview of what he’s been so engrossed in. The same powerful, “anthemic” (his
word, but it is exactly what I am looking for) theme runs throughout, but I am privy to victorious versions,
emotional strains, triumphant chords and quieter bars — different pieces of music to suit the moods of an
Olympic Games. Moccio says his theme music was influenced by “everything,” including composer John Williams
(Star Wars, Indiana Jones).
In terms of what Olympic moments inspired him most, Moccio can’t pin it down to one or two occasions. “I love
the drive of the athlete because I can relate to it. I feel, in a lot of ways, that I’ve been training all my
life. I’ve been locked in a room, practicing the piano or just listening to music. It’s dedication, passion,
commitment to something,” he says. “It sounds cliché but there’s something really cool when you’ve devoted a
chunk of your life to doing something, to pursuing excellence. I love that, particularly when it pays off and
you get the gold, literally and figuratively.” •
See more on Stephan Moccio at stephanmoccio.com.
