Terry Schlenker
orchestral, piano and chamber composer
About
Terry Schlenker studied music composition at the University of North Dakota and at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, from which he holds a Master of Art’s Degree in Composition. A composer of many orchestral, piano, and chamber works, Schlenker has focused much of his recent energy on a cappella choral music. His choral works are widely recorded, published, and have been performed internationally on five continents. Many of his pieces are regularly heard on the National Public Radio Network, where he has been featured on the programs of Colorado Matters, Colorado Spotlight, Sacred Classics, and Classical Discoveries. His works have been performed at the national conventions of Chorus America and ACDA (The American Choral Director’s Association), at the International Festival of GALA Choruses, and at the National Choral Festival. For Schlenker, to compose music is not to engage in an esoteric, intellectual exercise, but to articulate beauty, to express his deepest self, and to make a connection with the spiritual, both for himself and for others.
An embryologist by profession, Schlenker co-founded and for 12 years directed one of the most successful human in-vitro fertilization laboratories in the world. Several years ago he partially retired, in order to focus more time on composing music. He continues to work part- time as an embryologist and consultant in embryology, and frequently speaks internationally on the topic.
Upcoming & Recent Performances
Of Our God’s Great Love Begotten
- December 15, 2024
- Minneapolis, MN
Into Paradise
- January 31, 2025
- Broadmore Hotel, Colorado Springs, CO
O Come Emmanuel
- December 5 & 10, 2024
- Kansas City, MO
Mass for Double Choir: Green Pastures, Still Waters (World Premiere Performance)
- March 8, 2025 | 7:30 pm
- First Plymouth UCC, Denver
Mass for Double Choir: Green Pastures, Still Waters (World Premiere Performance)
- March 9, 2025 | 3:00 pm
- First Plymouth UCC, Denver
Agnus Dei, from the Mass for Double Choir
- April 6, 2025
- Minneapolis, MN
The Bird of Vision (World Premiere Performance)
- May 2026
- Central Presbyterian Church, Downtown Denver
Sanctus, from Mass for Double Choir
- April 5 and 6, 2025
- St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Andrew United Methodist Church
Music
Choral Music
Piano Music
Testimonials
Set to such gently provocative prose by American poet Theodore Roethke, Terry Schlenker's "The Waking" — for choir and chamber orchestra — is an emotionally compelling musical experience that recalls the compositional spirit of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Commissioned by the St. Martin's Chamber Choir and Augustana Arts, the world premiere of "The Waking" saturated St. John's Episcopal Cathedral on Sunday afternoon with a haunting, harmonically expansive soundscape comprising open choral unisons and a rhythmically mesmerizing orchestral accompaniment that was ably delivered by the Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra."