Born in Torgau, Schlüter studied from 1931-1937 in Hannover with Rudolf Krasselt and Clara Spitta, then at the Musikhochschule Berlin with Carl Adolf Martienssen until 1940.

Seven years later, after service as a soldier and held prisoner of war until 1947, he trained his skills in Walter Gieseking's master class[1] and became a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold.

The Schlüter Duo performed during the following years until 1995 in Germany and abroad (including Europe, Middle East), both classical-romantic repertoire and contemporary music.

They played contemporary music such as by Jean Françaix, Ernst-Lothar von Knorr, Rudolf Kelterborn and Martin Christoph Redel.

Together with Ludwig Müller-Gronau (violin), Wilhelm Isselmann (viola) and Werner Thomas-Mifune (violoncello) he formed the West German Piano Quartet.