AN INTERVIEW with Sacred Music Composer
Tom Trenney
Composer, conductor, organist, preacher, and teacher Tom Trenney has been blessed to serve as Minister of Music to First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, since 2009. In 2019, he was invited to become Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choirs at Nebraska Wesleyan University where he now holds the Susan Sehnert Stuart Professorship in Choral Music. Tom’s choirs have been honored to perform for state, regional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and they have been award winners in the American Prize for choral ensembles. In 2023, Tom was honored with the Raabe Prize for Choral Composition from the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and in 2024, Tom was named the Nebraska Music Education Association's Music Educator of the Year.
Tom has been a featured performer at churches, colleges, and concert halls across the country including Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, Kansas City’s Kauffman Center, D.C.'s Kennedy Center, and NYC's Carnegie Hall. His choral compositions are published by Augsburg Fortress, Beckenhorst Press, Choristers Guild, E.C. Schirmer/Galaxy, Gentry, Morningstar, Musicspoke, Pavane, and G. Schirmer.
A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music, Tom is grateful for the inspiration of his teachers and mentors – especially Anton Armstrong, David Davidson, Craig Hella Johnson, (Mister) Fred Rogers, William Weinert, Anne Wilson and Todd Wilson.
EVENTS
2025
October 4-5, 2025: Choral Festival at West Side Presbyterian, Ridgewood, NJ
October 11, 2025: Music Showcase Concert, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
October 16, 2025: Hymn Festival with Plymouth Choir, Plymouth Congregational, Wichita, KS
October 17, 2025: Hymn Festival with Plymouth Choir, Holy Family Cathedral, Tulsa, OK
October 18, 2025: Hymn Festival with Plymouth Choir, Wilshire Baptist, Dallas, TX
November 30, 2025: Community Sing: Handel's Messiah, First-Plymouth, Lincoln, NE
December 7, 2025: The Weary World Rejoices: Christmas with Wesleyan, First United Methodist, Lincoln, NE
2026
January 17, 2026: Composer/Choral Festival with Bridgeport AGO, Bridgeport, CT
January 19, 2026: New York City AGO , NY
February 5-6, 2026: Nebraska Wesleyan Honors Choir Festival (with Shawn Kirchner), Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
February 14-15, 2026: Composer/Choral Festival, Fountain City United Methodist, Knoxville, TN
February 28- March 1, 2026: Composer/Hymn Festival, Monumental United Methodist, Portsmouth, VA
March 15, 2026: J. S. Bach's Mass in b minor, First-Plymouth, Lincoln, NE
April 26, 2026: NWU's Big Sing, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
May 10, 2026: Only Light...Only Love: Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir Tour Concert, Westminster Presbyterian, Des Moines, IA
May 11, 2026: Only Light...Only Love: Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir Tour Concert, First Presbyterian, Kalamazoo, MI
May 12, 2026: Only Light...Only Love: Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir Tour Concert, First Presbyterian, Birmingham, MI
May 13, 2026: Only Light...Only Love: Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir Tour Concert, First Presbyterian, Ann Arbor, MI
May 14, 2026: Only Light...Only Love: Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir Tour Concert, First United Methodist, Valparaiso, IN
May 15, 2026: Only Light...Only Love: Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir Tour Concert, St. Andrew Presbyterian, Iowa City, IA
May 16, 2026: Only Light...Only Love: Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir Tour Concert, First United Methodist, Omaha, NE
May 18, 2026: Hymn Festival for Pittsburgh AGO, Pittsburgh, PA
June 5, 2026: Organ Recital, St. Peter's Episcopal, Lakewood, OH
June 14-16, 2026: National Concerts Residency at Carnegie Hall, New York City, NY
June 20, 2026: Hymn Festival for Twin Cities AGO, Minneapolis, MN
July 17-19, 2026: Sing Your Faith...Refresh Your Spirit Choral and Spiritual Retreat, First-Plymouth, Lincoln, NE
2027
February 4-5, 2027: Nebraska Wesleyan University Honors Choir Festival (with Moira Smiley), Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
March 6-7, 2027: Composer/Choral Festival, First Congregational, Palo Alto, CA
March 13-14, 2027: Composer/ Choral Festival, First Congregational, Sarasota, FL
Conductor
Composer
CHORAL
VOCAL SOLO
My Hope is Built
Listen
Purchase Medium Voice
Purchase High Voice
Nearer, My God, to Thee
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Purchase High Voice
Purchase Medium Voice
ORGAN
Give Me Jesus
Listen
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Purchase Medium Voice
Blest Be the Tie that Binds
Great is Thy Faithfulness
Listen
Purchase High Voice
Purchase Medium Voice
Organist
Preacher
teacher
RECORDINGS
Hymns from First Plymouth
Plymouth Choir - Plymouth Brass - Plymouth Ringers
Carols from First Plymouth
Plymouth Choir - Plymouth Brass - Plymouth Ringers
Hymns from First Plymouth (Vol. 2)
Plymouth Choir -
Plymouth Brass
Easter at First Plymouth
Choir - Orchestra - Brass - Handbells - Organ
