Dr Timothy Cierpke, D.M.A., Professor Emeritus at Trevecca University, was the backbone of the classical department of TNU in Nashville TN for 28 years, and is now retired. He founded and conducted the Trevecca Symphony Orchestra for 28 years, performing multiple concerts a year, as well as international tours. His choral group the Trevecca Madrigalians performed all over the world under his direction, including by special invitation to the St Peter’s Basilica in Rome as the first protestant choir to sing in the mass. He also served as the 1st chair cellist for 15 years in both the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and has 40 years of experience in church music. A beloved professor, Dr Cierpke was once voted Teacher of the Year at Trevecca University during his tenure there. He is the founder and primary teacher of the newly formed Cierpke School of Music and Art, and can now share his extensive knowledge in both private and classroom settings.
As a harpist, vocalist, composer, conductor, and songwriter, Timbre Cierpke has pioneered new sounds in both classical and commercial music. She brings nearly 30 years of experience playing the harp to her private teaching, and has the unique perceptive of professional work in both the classical and pop/rock genres. She has taught harp lessons for over 20 years, both privately and as an adjunct teacher at the university level.
Holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Harp Performance from Trevecca University, Timbre has performed with dozens of professional symphonies. She is the first chair harpist for the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, having been the youngest member in their history to receive a contract at the age of 15, and has also served as first chair in the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. She has also notably performed with the London Symphony Orchestra. Timbre also has many awards to her name, including the Nashville Symphony Young Musicians Competition, and was the only student in Trevecca University’s history to win their concerto competition 4 years in a row.
Outside of the classical genre, Timbre has recorded and performed with notable artists such as Jack White, Tom Jones, Ricky Skaggs, as well as rock bands like mewithoutYou, with over 50 albums credits so far.
As a collaborator, Timbre has worked with composers and songwriters of all genres, from singing the lead in Rachel Grimes’s folk opera, “The Way Forth”, to playing harp with Jack White on his Grammy Award winning album, “Lazaretto”. In 2018 she conducted Bang On A Can and SONUS choir for a performance of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize winning work, “Anthracite Fields” at Big Ears Festival.
Timbre also fronts her neoclassical folk-rock band “Timbre”, which has toured extensively in Europe and America. Defying genre, Timbre fronts the band as vocalist and songwriter while playing her full-sized classical harp. Their latest album, Sun & Moon, has been called“a gorgeous tapestry of audible poetry,” and was chosen by UNESCO as one of the most important albums of the decade.
Tetra Cierpke is a professional artist and jewelry maker in Nashville TN, holding a Fine Arts Degree at Belmont University with an emphasis in Oil Painting. She started taking art classes at the age of ten, in a similar style of class that she now teaches, and fell in love with oil painting as well as drawing, pen and ink, and pastels. Tetra spent 6 years teaching jewelry making to dozens of single mothers in Mozambique, and now is offering semi-private art lessons in TN.
Of her class, Tetra shares, “One of my favorite things about oil painting is capturing a moment and being able to get the things that burn inside of me onto a canvas! I want to help artists get stronger by building that foundation of technique/realism so as to let all the creativity that’s inside, come out without feeling limited by technique!”
The focus of the classes are project based, technique driven, semi-realism oil painting for beginners and intermediates in a setting where each student can move at their own pace with one on one instruction from Tetra as well as technique focuses at the beginning of class.