Timbre Cierpke was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She is the daughter of a music professor and a choral director. Timbre learned to read musical notation before she learned to read letters. In an interview with the Greensboro News & Record, she said, “I remember being in church and looking at a hymnal and being able to sing the melody and making up words to go along." She played harp professionally by the age of twelve. She has said that she "grew up in the Republican suburbs of Nashville" and that she "didn't like war, but no one understood".
Career
Early work
Timbre began writing and composing songs in college, "blurring the lines between classical and songwriting". She was invited to sing in Eric Whitacre's vocal ensemble for his debut at Carnegie Hall in 2010. In 2011, the production of Timbre's Christmas album was fully funded on Kickstarter. The album was released for free with a stated goal being that the music would be "able to be enjoyed by anyone no matter their economic status". In 2012, she played harp as well as consulted in choral arrangement and conducting for Brooke Waggoner's album, Originator. She was invited to perform at in Chicago in May 2013. In June 2013, the production of her double disc albumSun & Moon was fully funded through a crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo.
Other work
On May 8, 2017, Timbre was invited to perform on-stage at TEDx Talks in Nashville, Tennessee. When asked about her collaborative work during an interview for the Greensboro News & Record, Timbre has said: “I get really excited because I get challenged I’m writing songs I normally wouldn’t write, especially with bands like The Chariot, which is super hard-core. And I love it. I love having a song and trying to get inside of it, trying to give more life to it.”
named Sun & Moon one of Eight Overlooked Albums for 2015: "Saying harpist Timbre Cierpke is underrated is a massive understatement. If you hear a harp in heavy music, it’s probably from her. There is no doubt that Cierpke has the ability to write a mainstream chamber folk album that would rival the brilliance of Joanna Newsom, but instead of choosing to please a wide audience, she creates the music she wants make". The song “Day Boy: Photogen Sees the Moon” on the Moon side, and its counterpart on Sun, “Night Girl: Nycteris Sees the Sun” are both based on an 1882 fairytale by George MacDonald called The Love Story of Photogen And Nycteris. Regarding aspects of composition in the double-disc album itself, Timbre has said: “I wanted these songs to reflect each other, as the sunset and sunrise do in nature, so I connected them with a melody palindrome. “Sunrise” ends with a soaring cello and violin melody. At the opening of “Sunset” I wrote a soprano solo with the same melody, but sung backwards, note for note.” Composition for film In 2014, Timbre's work was licensed for use in David Kassan's instructive art documentary, Painting A Life. Her compositional works have since been used for the film The Heart Of Man by director Eric Esau.
PopMatters reviewed Timbre's Sun & Moon album as an "alt-classical, art concept album that is near impossible to categorize" and said that Timbre's vocals were "embedded in melodies and arrangements that suggest the mystery and beauty of a band such as Sigur Rós". In the same article, reviewer Mark Allberg called the work "exquisite, well worth listening to". Sputnik Music referred to the album as "like being in Rivendell, the White Lodge and freakin' Narnia all at the same time".
Musical style & influences
In an interview with the Charleston City Paper, Timbre spoke of her views on live and classical music: “I’ve always felt like there’s a deep, intrinsic connection between two musical worlds. Playing with bands is energetic and passionate classical music has depth, like a broad palette of color.” She has cited classical composers as influences, as well as bands like Radiohead and Sigur Rós.
Personal life
Timbre's parents named their four children after musical terms. She has three siblings: Tenor, Treble, and Tetra. Timbre resides in Nashville and occasionally gives private piano lessons. In the past she has been contracted to as many as three Nashville symphonies at a time.
