PBS premieres “THOREAU” documentary, with a CCNY connection

“HENRY DAVID THOREAU,” a PBS series executive produced by Ken Burns and musician Don Henley, narrated by George Clooney and featuring  the voices of Meryl Streep, Jeff Goldblum, Ted Danson and other acting legends, premieres at 9 p.m. ET on March 30, with music scored by City College of New York Adjunct Professor and master composer David Cieri. Click here to watch the trailer.

A member of CCNY’s music faculty for 16 years, Cieri currently teaches courses on music and film, and film scoring in Professor Paul Kozel’s renowned Sonic Arts Center (SAC). 

His work on “THOREAU,” a three-part, three-hour documentary directed by brothers Erik and Christopher Loren Ewers, and whose second episode airs at 9 p.m. March 31, is the latest of his numerous film compositions.   

Cieri’s other recent work includes music for: 

• “Behind the Lines,” (directed by John Benitz, Cypher Films); 
• The American Revolution,” (Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein & David Schmidt, Florentine Films);
• On the Line,” (Marika Hacking & Francesco Saviano, Unarmed Media); and
• Annika Harris, Lights On,” (audio book, MacMillan Press).

About David Cieri
A musician and composer who makes music for film, concert, and album release, Cieri has worked with numerous celebrated filmmakers including Ken Burns, the Ewers Brothers, Barak Goodman, and George Lucas. He has recorded 21 acclaimed albums under his own name, the last 12 of which were released by Ropeadope Records. He has collaborated on a major live documentary project with the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and has made two records with the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa. David wrote and performed the live scores for the first three seasons of The Paris Review podcasts. Besides teaching at The City College, Cieri periodically teaches The Art of Listening and the Art of Improvising on select Tuesdays at the 92nd Street Y on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Read more.

About “HENRY DAVID THOREAU”
The series examines the life and work of the 19th-century writer in the context of antebellum New England and the larger United States, as well as through the universal themes he focused on in his writings: an individual’s relationship to the state, how to live an authentic life, our connection to nature, and the impact of race on American life. Set against the political and social tensions of the mid-19th century, the film traces Thoreau’s journey from his early days in Concord, Massachusetts to his deep engagement with the moral crises of his time, including industrialization, slavery, war, and environmental degradation. Through his essays, journals, and landmark works such as Walden and Civil Disobedience, he became an inspiration for generations of writers, thinkers, and activists.

In addition to Clooney’s narration, voices are provided by Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Tate Donovan (William Ellery Channing), Goldblum (Henry David Thoreau), and Streep (Lidian Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Mary Merrick Brooks, and Maria Thoreau). Check local listings for other show times.