GBH and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Present THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: An Evening with Ken Burns

Boston, Mass. - (Jan. 23, 2025) - Public media powerhouse GBH and the world renowned Boston Symphony Orchestra today announced a special evening with filmmaker Ken Burns to preview his new film, THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Symphony Hall in Boston. 

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, a new six-part, 12-hour documentary series directed by Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, explores the country’s founding struggle and its eight-year War for Independence. The film examines how thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose in rebellion, won their independence, and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent and inspired centuries of democratic movements around the globe.

The much-anticipated series, which has been in production for eight years, will premiere on GBH in Boston and PBS stations throughout the country on November 16, 2025.

The April event will feature musical performances, selections from the documentary, and a behind-the-scenes conversation with the filmmakers and three historians featured in the film, Vincent Brown, Philip Deloria and Maya Jasanoff. The selection of music, curated by Grammy Award-winning violinist and producer Johnny Gandelsman, will be performed by Gandelsman and Grammy Award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens along with other instrumentalists, drawing on the soundtrack for THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION and the historical backdrop of key moments and themes depicted in the series.

For both GBH and the BSO, this evening with Ken Burns, occurring just days before the anniversary of the “shot heard round the world” and the start of the War for Independence, is partof a series of events and programming that the two organizations will be rolling out starting this spring to commemorate and explore the 250th anniversary of the founding of America.