Timbre Cierpke Awarded FY27 IAF in Music

From Jared Morrison, Director of Performing Arts

The Tennessee Arts Commission has awarded Timbre Cierpke its FY27 Individual Artist Fellowship in Music.

A composer, harpist, singer and conductor based in Nashville, Cierpke writes music she hopes draws listeners into stillness, describing her work as a blend of romantic minimalism with influences from post-rock and folk.

Her fellowship-winning submissions, “Dum Spiro, Spero” and “Mother God,” are both a cappella choral works written for SONUS, the semi-professional choir she founded in 2014 and leads as artistic director and composer-in-residence. “Dum Spiro, Spero,” written for the choir’s tenth anniversary, draws on research into choral singers’ synchronizing heart rates, building from disparate notes sliding into unison before blossoming into new chords. “Mother God,” premiered by SONUS in 2025, explores maternal imagery for the divine through scripture set for warm, layered voices. One adjudicator called the works “beautiful examples of new works that sound fresh but deeply grounded in the classic choral style.”

A harpist for more than 30 years, Cierpke has performed with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and the Two Rivers Symphony Orchestra, and performs as a touring recording artist under the name “Timbre,” with four studio albums to her name. She has recorded with artists including Jack White, Tom Jones, Lauren Daigle, Ricky Skaggs and Rachel Grimes, and is a member of the professional new music ensemble chatterbird.