PRESS AND TESTIMONIALS
PRESS: Stereo Stick Man Review
Multi award-winning harpist and artist Cymber Lily Quinn is a
musician paving her own way entirely within the music world. Offering up blissfully ambient compositions, carefully balancing skill with artistic intention and plenty of relevant space, her music transcends the barriers of traditional mainstream releases, and instead presents listeners with a truly compelling audio experience; the sort that’s all at once organic, genuine, and delicately dreamlike.
A stand-out release from her recent recordings is the piece Band Of Angels, a solo performance that softly weaves through the quiet around you and intensifies its embrace. While there are numerous tracks to explore from Cymber Lily, many that showcase a slightly fuller set-up – rhythm, bass – this composition creates something decidedly unique for its audience, making it the perfect introduction to her work and artistic direction. You can hear the authenticity in the distant hum of a raw and real recording, and this makes it feel like the whole performance is taking place right there in the room with you.
An exceedingly versatile harpist, with a brilliant sense of identity to her music – a rare quality to achieve. Her fine fusion of natural world sounds, meditative warmth, and musical precision, makes for a truly beautiful listening session. It’s been far from an easy road, but her journey in life has undoubtedly helped craft this style that has such a striking sense of individuality and strength.
On top of the compositions, the awards and performances, for those looking to improve or kick-start their harp skills – Cymber Lily Quinn also offers harp lessons online. Undoubtedly a musician worth knowing about.
PRESS: Campbell (California) Express
Former Campbell resident, Cymber Quinn will play the harp at a location celebrity luncheon will be hosted by the Santa Clara County branch of the National League of American Pen Women, a nonprofit encouraging women to pursue careers in the arts. The luncheon will recognize eight women in the county who participate in music, writing or art. Other women to be recognized at the event include San Jose residents Lija Raeof, Dorothy Brown, Bonnie Smith, Julia Watson and Lilie Queen, along with Erica Goss from Los Gatos, and Xana Chas from Los Altos Hills.
According to Patricia Dennis, the branch’s publicity coordinator, $7500 in scholarship money is given to four women this year. Dennis, a Campbell resident, was a past scholarship recipient in the arts category.
“For some recipients, this award makes a difference, giving them the courage to pursue their career goals, knowing that their endeavors were acknowledged by such a prestigious organization,” Dennis said.
Quinn, who recently moved to Santa Clara, was nominated for recognition by Dennis. “Her music is absolutely wonderful,” Dennis said.
As a child in Greeley, Colorado, Quinn played drums, the french horn, and multiple wind instruments, and also sang.
“By the time I was 15, I was burned out.” Quinn said, “adding that she didn’t sing or play music for 27 years.
During her musical hiatus, she worked as a copywriter for the Indianapolis News, writing obituaries. She then worked in advertising and came to the Santa Clara Valley during the dot-com boom in 1996, staying until 2004.
At the age of 42, Quinn found her way back to music after trying to heal from several surgeries and undergoing a hysterectomy in her late 30s. “I wasn’t really recovering well,” Quinn said. “The doctors weren’t really sure why, so I started more alternative approaches to healing.”
She looked to Reiki, a stress reduction method to heal one’s body through hand movements. The Reiki master Quinn was learning from suggested finding what made her happy when she was a child. In 2008, when Quinn was flipping through a catalog, she came across a harp.
“I had a memory of being 6 years old and my parents taking me to hear the symphony – and that night the harpist had a solo,” Quinn said.
At the time, Quinn ordered her harp, she was living in Hawaii, which made finding a harp teacher difficult. She eventually found a harpist who taught her how to play via Skype and showed her the healing effect it could have on other people.
In 2013, when she returned to the Santa Clara Valley, she took up teaching at The Music Place, a music school for children in San Jose. Since then, she’s been teaching harp to children and playing at churches and yoga studios. She also plays at the bedside of the elderly and ill, and at Touch to Heal Spa in Campbell.
“There are many benefits to hearing relaxing and meditative music,” Quinn said, adding that the vibrations from the harp have helped people. Quinn said that she’s even had people tell her they play her CDs on their commute home from work to relax them.
Quinn has released three CDs, in of which was featured on National Public Radio. Another album is in the works.
by Jasmine Layva