Cleveland State University
The College of Wooster
Notre Dame College
Thomas Lempner is a member of the music faculty at Cleveland State University, The College of Wooster, Notre Dame College, and he is a woodwind coach for the Cleveland Institute of Music Cleveland Youth Wind Symphonies.
Mr. Lempner currently performs as a member of Ekklésia Reed Quintet, Neo-Tessares Saxophone Quartet, Cleveland Winds, Akron Symphonic Winds, Sarata & Lempner Duo, Trepanning Trio, OutLab, Hexapod, Pen & Axe, MT Fraze, NEO Dixie, Powerhouse 5, Night Owls, and is host of the experimental project Inquiries Into Sound. He has also performed with CityMusic Cleveland, Blossom Festival Band, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Lakeside Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Cleveland Opera Theatre, Canton Comic Opera, Playhouse Square, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Morrison Dance Company, Get Hep Swing, Oberlin Jazz Society, Fred Astaire Dance Studio, Mark Russo’s Buhaniah’s Delight, Gabriel’s Horns, Ted Lewis Orchestra (Rhythm Rhapsody Review), Noel Quintana & The Latin Crew, MOJO Generations Big Band, and Freedom Jazz Collective.
Mr. Lempner has premiered solo and chamber works of composers Nicholas Underhill, Thomas Janson, Michael Quick, Kurtis Jeffers, John HC Thompson, Michael Leese, Geoffrey Peterson, Buck McDaniel, Greg D'Alessio, Jack Ballard, and Andrew Rindfleisch. He is scheduled in the upcoming year to premiere other new works: Homage to Donald Erb for solo baritone saxophone (Geoffrey Peterson), ER for reed quintet (Stephen Stanziano), Today's Headlines for saxophone quartet (Stephen Stanziano), Song for Alice for saxophone quartet (Darren Allen), and a world-premiere of the full-orchestra version of Three Vignette's for alto saxophone and orchestra (David Morgan).
Mr. Lempner has recorded on Convincing Sound Archives, Infinite Number of Sounds, Palmyra Music, Parousia Digital, and for Ludwig Masters Publications. His performances include live broadcasts on WCLV Classical 104.9, 90.3 WCPN, WRUW-FM 91.1, WCR-FM 97.1, WJW FOX 8 News In the Morning, as he also has been featured on Ideastream, Cleveland Ovations, The Hazel Chapman Show, and Positively Cleveland.
Aside from being an educator and performer, Mr. Lempner has over ten years experience working as a Music Therapist with the urban youth population of Cleveland who have severe emotional disturbances, as well as having worked at the Prentiss Autism Center. In addition to crisis intervention, re-education and sanctuary therapeutic models, he received Applied Behavioral Analysis training from the Cleveland Clinic and completed the Child Trauma Academy with Dr. Bruce Perry. Since 2015 he has been selected by ORMACO (Ohio Regional Music Arts and Cultural Outreach) to facilitate annual grant-funded therapeutic music workshops with at-risk youth.
Mr. Lempner earned degrees from Kent State University, Baldwin Wallace College and a diploma from the Armed Forces School of Music. His teachers include Shawn Colvenbach, Paul Cohen, Rich Shanklin, Steve Mohacey, Greg Banaszak and Chas Baker.
He is an Army veteran with various awards and decorations.