Thomas Lennartz, born in 1971 in Hanover, studied organ, church music, as well as school music and German language and literature in Hanover, Cologne and Leipzig, as well as organ improvisation at the Paris Conservatoire. He completed his studies with the Church Music A Examination, the concert examination in organ – both with distinction – and the first state examination for teaching at secondary schools.
Key teachers included Ullrich Bremsteller, Arvid Gast (organ repertoire), Volker Bräutigam, Thierry Escaich (organ improvisation), Vladimir Krajnew and Christoph Taubert (piano). Masterclasses with, amongst others, Daniel Roth, Olivier Latry, Wolfgang Seifen, Ton Koopmann, Ewald Koimann and Harald Vogel complemented his training.
Thomas Lennartz was a scholarship holder of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and a prize-winner in several competitions, such as the Fugato Festival competition in Bad Homburg, where he was awarded first prize and the audience prize, the Hermann Schröder Competition, the competition for organ improvisation in church services, and the International Competition for Organ Improvisation in Schwäbisch Gmünd, as well as at Orgues sans frontières in Saarbrücken and in St Albans, England.
From 2003 to 2008, Thomas Lennartz served as regional cantor at St Martin’s Basilica in Bingen am Rhein and, during the same period, was a lecturer in organ at the Mannheim University of Music. In September 2008, he was appointed cathedral organist at the Cathedral of Ss. Trinitatis in Dresden; in 2009, he also took up a teaching post at the Dresden University of Church Music.
Since September 2014, Thomas Lennartz has been Professor of Organ Improvisation and Liturgical Organ Performance at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig and Director of the Institute of Church Music. In September 2020, he assumed the role of Vice-Rector for Artistic Practice and Deputy Rector.
Thomas Lennartz maintains an extensive concert schedule, which has taken him to many significant venues in Germany (cathedrals in Cologne, Speyer, Mainz, Freiburg, Regensburg, Hamburg, etc.; the Bamberg Philharmonie; St Thomas’ Church, St Nicholas’ Church and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Frauenkirche and Kreuzkirche in Dresden), to numerous other European countries (including Notre-Dame in Paris, Palma Cathedral in Mallorca, St Bavo’s Cathedral in Haarlem), to the USA and to Japan. His organ improvisations and performances of organ repertoire have also been recorded for CD.