Testimonials

A&E’s Category 6 commissioned Ceiri Torjussen to compose the original music for Cold Case Files and several of the franchise spinoffs. It was an absolute delight to collaborate with Ceiri. He is incredibly talented and we felt honored to be able to bring his original sound to our series.

This project had a very tight deadline with ever-changing creative directives. To start, Ceiri brought us multiple options to begin the conversation of what we wanted the sound of the show to be. When we received feedback from the client, Ceiri quickly made revisions to address the client’s wishes.

Whatever we asked of Ceiri, he delivered beyond our expectations. He is creative, innovative, and a top notch professional.

I highly recommend him.

– Grace Miller
Showrunner/Executive Producer – Cold Case Files (A&E)

Ceiri is a true talent, a consummate professional and a pure joy to work with. In addition to beautiful original scores, he’s created a variety of new title themes for the reboot of a classic series and nailed it every time, taking the franchise to new heights. His creativity and aesthetic are simply stunning. Terrific with clients, super efficient and over-delivers every time.

– Hillary Heath
Showrunner/Executive Producer – Cold Case Files (A&E)

It was an absolute pleasure working with Ceiri on my documentary series. Ceiri delivered a beautifully haunting score and he did it with grace and integrity. I look forward to working with him again.

-Donnie Eichar
Director – The People vs. The Klan (CNN)

Working with Ceiri was a dream. With absolutely zero time in our schedule, we dumped a tonally complex film in his lap, asked him to mix genres of music that don’t belong together, and he somehow made sense of it all and delivered a sound that elevated the project to a whole new level. It’s always a rare pleasure to work with someone who instantly understands what you’re going for and then uses their own talent and expertise to offer new ideas that fit your vision—and Ceiri is that person. Count me a fan.

-Brandon Zuck
Director “Into the Dark” Crawlers

For more than 20 years, Ceiri has been composing and scoring music for my projects. He is one of the most talented and original composers I have ever enjoyed working with on a project. With simple words like “plucky”, “driving”, or “quirky”, Ceiri can intuit meaning from nonmusical vocabularies, such as my own, and come back with ideas, riffs, and imaginative interpretations to produce a beautifully rich soundscape. The nature of my most recent project presented Ceiri with a challenge that goes beyond anything I asked him to do on a film or television project. It was to create a whole music library for a new podcast that only inhabits the auditory realm. The show, called Why It Matters, is produced by the Council on Foreign Relations. For this documentary-style show that changes topic episode to episode, Ceiri was tasked with creating a unique sound that would help brand the auditory experience for the listener. We needed a unique theme and a whole suite of tracks for every conceivable (and sometimes inconceivable) mood, transition, pacing, and sequence—a monumental task. Ceiri delivered. Plus, he is a delightful collaborator. And our team is simply in love with his work. Creative. Original. Powerful. All words I would use to describe what Ceiri created for us. Oh yes, and “plucky” too.

-Jeremy Shirlick
Producer – Why It Matters (podcast)

Ceiri was the composer for my rom-com The Right One. He is a wonderful talent. His breadth of musical knowledge and his ability to adapt compositional styles to match what is needed in a scene is remarkable. He never lets his ego get in the way of the needs of the director and the film and his even temperament makes him a pleasure to collaborate with.

For this film, Ceiri was able to bring a full palette of musical styles to the project, which is exactly what was needed. He created variations on a leitmotif for the main character, which really helped underscore to the audience what this man was experiencing psychologically. He also created a whimsical overall score which held the film together tonally.

Ceiri was also able to work quickly and under extreme time pressure without sacrificing the quality of work. I really put Ceiri through the wringer at the last minute on this project and he came through with flying colors. The music in the film stands out on its own and that’s a testament to his talent.

-Ken Mok
Director – The Right One

Ceiri came into a challenging situation and handled everything with grace and patience. He’s a very talented, hard-working, and creative composer, and I’m glad to have worked with him! Grateful for his contributions to our film.

-Geeta Malick
Director – India Sweets and Spices

Ceiri was a phenomenal composer and collaborator. He’s well-trained as a musician and knows how to translate music into emotion in a versatile fashion. Even though I have little music training and hardly spoke the language, I was able to discuss with him the beats and story intentions and Ceiri accurately translated that into the score, along with bringing in tons of interesting ideas and layers I couldn’t have thought of. He went above and beyond for the film and was a huge reason the film was a success.

-Mike Gan
Director – Burn

Scattering CJ chronicles the story of a family who lost a son to suicide and then, through the fearless endeavor of a heartbroken mom, created a phenomenon that not only touched the lives of tens of thousands in a resoundingly positive way but also literally saved lives, as well as helped a family mired in grief to finally find a way to live again. In documentaries music can have important editorial and ethical implications. Ceiri intrinsically understands this challenge and deftly created a score that captured the essence of our story with integrity and subtlety.

Always patient and empathic, he embraced having long ranging and unhurried discussions on story, tone and narrative themes. Ever resourceful, he worked within the project’s constraints, never letting a limited budget or a tight timeline impact the quality of his work. Highly organized, he navigated sudden shifts or turns in directives on a story that was still unfolding. Throughout the process he remained steady and unflappable; a welcome quality in creative collaborations.

Transcendent of obstacles and transportive in composition, I am filled with gratitude and respect of Ceiri’s ability to craft a musical score that weaves a complex course of melancholy, tension, hope and grace, challenging us all to make room in our hearts for more than one feeling at once.

-Andrea Kalin
Director – Scattering CJ

My documentary, “Cat People” is a mixture of laughter, emotion, and a hint of Japanese culture. I knew right away that Ceiri would be the perfect guy to create the right mood for the piece. He totally exceeded my expectations and elevated the film 200%! I couldn’t have made it without Ceiri.

-Asako Ushio
Director – Cat People

From the moment I began writing “Jack Goes Home”, I knew the score would be the most crucial element of the film. As so much of the story is a quiet family drama, I knew the stabs of score would often be the only indication that we were experiencing a horror film. And just like Jack’s decent into madness, I needed a score that could begin delicately before plummeting into a frenzy of darkness and terror. During production, countless composer’s works were sent to me and not one of them felt right. Until Ceiri Torjussen was sent my way. It only took a listen to three various pieces of his work and I knew immediately that no one else could or should handle the score. With a shared affection for modern/experimental/classical, the musical universe of “Jack” was instantly understood by both of us in what felt like a telepathic exchange. You don’t listen to Ceiri’s music. You feel it. It pulsates with such anguish and power that it swallows you whole. I could not be more honored to present his work in my film and on this soundtrack.

-Thomas Dekker
Director – Jack Goes Home

As our film reached the last phase of production, we knew we needed a very specific sounding score that would thread the movie together and help give it a unique voice. Ceiri managed to provide that unique sound with his delicate, yet impactful score. He streamlined our many ideas into a theme that is very subtle and special. Ceiri was beyond a delight to work with and elevated all of the emotions in the film right out of the gate. I welcome the opportunity to work with him again.

-Colin Schiffli
Director – All Creatures

To simply put it, Ceiri has STYLE. Ceiri has a fantastic sense of the role music plays in a film. His ability to understand the direction and ideas for the film Primal Rage: The Legend of Oh Mah was second to none. With a limited budget Ceiri was a able to deliver way beyond expectations and elevate the film to a whole new level. I’m very thankful for his contribution…….

-Patrick Magee
Director – Primal Rage: The Legend of Oh Mah

I knew the score for Million Dollar Duck would be challenging because we needed a lot of individual cues and a wide range of styles from traditional score all the way to country. Ceiri was amazingly quick, adaptive, and mastered every style of music the documentary required. He was a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend him to any filmmaker.

-Brian Golden Davis
Director – Million Dollar Duck

Working with Ceiri is an absolute dream situation. Not only does he have an amazing ear and gorgeous sensibility, he has the ability to gracefully pivot when the inevitable changes arise in the process. He works efficiently, he’s absolutely professional and above all he’s flat out good. The music is always good – it’s always the track I’m hoping comes in before I know it exists.

Tanuj Chopra
Director – Grin

It was such a great pleasure working with Ceiri Torjussen on the soundtrack for my film The Canal. I asked him for a film score that sounded like no other, that contained unique sounds and textures, that was terrifying, evocative and atmospheric, that would be the heartbeat – the pulse of the film. He delivered all of that and more. It truly is astonishing what he did with limited resources and I don’t think I’ve heard anything quite like it. It is the perfect score for my film and I very much look forward to our next collaboration.

-Ivan Kavanagh
Director – The Canal

We were blessed to be introduced to Ceiri, a wonderful composer who’s ambition for the soundtrack was equal to our wild ambition for the film.…The great thing about Ceiri, besides his illustrious musical background, is that he is a storyteller, knowing how to deftly maneuver from comedy to horror to action without literally missing a beat.

-Mike Mendez
Director – Big Ass Spider!

Ceiri Torjussen is a talent of the highest level. His music is pitch perfect to the moods, emotions, and drama inhabiting each scene of our film, Undoing. His talent is matched only by his work ethic and professionalism. Ceiri is a pleasure to work with, and an artist with whom I hope to be collaborating well into the future.

-Karin Chien
Producer – Undoing

Ceiri is top of our composer list and we are fortunate to enjoy the loan of his talent.

-Mike Young
CEO – Mike Young Productions / Moonscoop

Working with Ceiri on Mentor was a wonderfully collaborative experience. He has that rare mix of talent and open-mindedness and those traits helped create a sonic throughline that far exceeded our expectations.

-William Whitehurst
Writer / Producer – Mentor

Ceiri scored two of my films – a family comedy and a gothic horror. Both scores were remarkable and unique! Ceiri is wonderful to work with. For first-time or seasoned directors, he takes a fresh new approach to whatever the project.

-Harry Basil
Director – Funky Monkey, Soul’s Midnight

Ceiri is talented, easy to work with and fast!

-Gill Holland
Executive Producer – Mentor

I have been working with Ceiri for several years now on animated productions and I have always enjoyed the inventiveness with which he approaches each new project. He’s not just a talented composer and musician he is also a generous collaborator who plusses whatever he works on. Ceiri’s work speaks for itself as he was nominated for an Emmy on the first series we ever did together.

-Bob Doucette
Director – Dive Olly Dive!, Max and the Mechanicals

Ceiri is a gifted composer who works with facility in a broad range of musical styles. He also serves a fine cup of tea.

-Stephen Adrianson
Editor – Funky Monkey, Soul’s Midnight

It is a pleasure to work with Ceiri as he possesses the perfect blend of exceptional talent, a great personality and a strong work ethic. He has a gift for writing music that captures the tone and enhances the feel of the film.

-Marc Milstein
Director / Writer – Secret Santa Deluxe