Thomas Lennartz, born in Hanover in 1971, studied organ, church music, school music, and German language and literature in Hanover, Cologne, and Leipzig, as well as organ improvisation at the Conservatoire in Paris. 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.
Important teachers included Ullrich Bremsteller, Arvid Gast (organ literature performance), Volker Bräutigam, Thierry Escaich (organ improvisation), Vladimir Krajnew, and Christoph Taubert (piano). Master classes with Daniel Roth, Olivier Latry, Wolfgang Seifen, Ton Koopmann, Ewald Koimann, and Harald Vogel, among others, complemented his training.
Thomas Lennartz was a scholarship holder of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and winner of several competitions, including the Fugato Festival Bad Homburg competition, 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 competitions for organ improvisation in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Saarbrücken Orgues sans frontières, and 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 the Holy Trinity in Dresden, and in 2009 he also took on a teaching position at the Dresden University of Church Music.
Since September 2014, Thomas Lennartz has been Professor of Organ Improvisation and Liturgical Organ Playing at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig and Director of the Church Music Institute. In September 2020, he took on the role of Vice-Rector for Artistic Practice and Deputy Rector.
Thomas Lennartz pursues an extensive concert career, which has taken him to many important instruments in Germany (cathedrals in Cologne, Speyer, Mainz, Freiburg, Regensburg, Hamburg, etc.; Bamberg Philharmonic; St. Thomas Church, St. Nicholas Church, and Gewandhaus in Leipzig; Frauenkirche and Kreuzkirche in Dresden), numerous countries in Europe (including Notre Dame in Paris, Mallorca Cathedral, and Haarlem Cathedral), the USA, and Japan. His organ improvisations and organ literature performances have been recorded on CD.