Dieter Lehnhoff

and doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees with distinction at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he was a graduate student of Conrad Bernier and Helmut Braunlich (composition), Donald Thulean (conducting), Cyrilla Barr, Ruth Steiner, and Robert M. Stevenson (musicology).

His Misa de San Isidro (2001) for a cappella chorus was premiered in Tenerife, the Canary Islands, Spain, in 2002, and has been performed by different professional choirs at festivals in Medellín, Tokyo, and New York City.

1 (2005), dedicated to the Russian pianist and teacher, Alexandr Sklioutovski, was premiered in June, 2006 at the National Theatre in Guatemala City by José Pablo Quesada as a soloist and the Millennium Orchestra, the composer conducting.

The concertos are written in a personal, highly original post-modern style in which contemporary art-music idioms and techniques, but also blues, tango, and jazz influences can be traced.

The first series of digital recordings (1992–99), which spanned from the late Maya times to the end of the 20th century, was released as part of the monumental Historia General de Guatemala, an encyclopedic publication in six volumes written by over 150 specialists in every historical area.

The revival of the historic Music of Guatemala through Lehnhoff's concerts, writings, and recordings had a significant effect on the strengthening of the cultural identity of Guatemalans in times of civil confrontation and turmoil.

He has been invited to perform as a conductor, composer, lecturer, or leader of his Millennium Ensemble at over forty international festivals and concerts in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Spain, the United States, and Venezuela.