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

Performed by Plymouth Congregational Church Choir
Under the direction of Philip Brunelle, Choirmaster

Into Paradise

Performed by MSU Denver Chorale
Under the direction of MB Krueger, Director
Colorado Music Educators Association (CMEA) Convention

O Come Emmanuel

Performed by Kansas City Chorale
Under the direction of Charles Bruffy, Artistic Director

Mass for Double Choir: Green Pastures, Still Waters (World Premiere Performance)

Performed by Kantorei
Under the direction of Joel Rinsima, Managing Artistic Director

Mass for Double Choir: Green Pastures, Still Waters (World Premiere Performance)

Performed by Kantorei
Under the direction of Joel Rinsima, Managing Artistic Director

Agnus Dei, from the Mass for Double Choir

Performed by Plymouth Congregational Church Choir
Under the direction of Philip Brunelle, Choirmaster

The Bird of Vision (World Premiere Performance)

Performed by Combined concert with Ars Nova Singers, Kantorei & St. Martin’s Chamber Choir
Under the direction of Tom Morgan, Artistic Director
Commission for the 40th Anniversary of Ars Nova Singers

Sanctus, from Mass for Double Choir

Performed by St. Martin’s Chamber Choir
Under the direction of Timothy J. Krueger

Music

Choral Music

Testimonials

“This piece is a lush and rarefied piece of strong sacred power and appeal. Name any spiritual emotion typically evoked by the Latin mass: hushed mystery, crushing grief, ecstatic joy, or abject reverence – and you’ll find it here. The music – performed here for the first time anywhere – is radiant and ethereal, built on modal (and other ancient) foundations, deftly translated into striking and original modern musical language.”
American Record Guide
“This new CD includes premieres from the 10th season of Denver’s St. Martin’s Chamber Choir. The feature work, Mass for Double Choir, is written by ensemble member Terry Schlenker and is distinctively unique. It is filled with precision, beauty and dramatic intensity, yet is devout and songful. It has been said this piece “has legs”...that it will be performed by other choirs. It offers a prestigious challenge to listener and singer alike. The Mass presents rich and varied harmonies that ring with expressive power.”
CollegiumUSA.com/ClarionRecords.com
"'I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I learn by going where I have to go.'

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."
Sabine Kortals
special to The Denver Post
"[O Come Emmanuel] is a resplendent arrangement….”
Kyle MacMillan
Denver Post Critic-at-Large

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