Keren Terpstra was born in Brisbane and grew up in Sydney. Influenced by the work of Clare Maclean, Keren studied at the University of Sydney with Ross Edwards, Ian Shanahan and Anne Boyd. She has always relished the intricacies of the baroque, the clean stricture and dizzying freedom of renaissance counterpoint, and the simple elegance of chant.
Involved in a number of choirs over the years, including church choirs and Canticum Chamber Choir, directed by Emily Cox, Keren's passion is choral music and music involving the voice. The notion of a uniquely 'Australian' voice in music has grown over the years, and Keren is facinated by how the spirit of place, the spirit of a landscape and environment influences the character of the people who inhabit it, and the creative works they produce. In more recent years, Keren has discovered an affinity with the work of Arvo Pärt and Ludovico Einaudi.
Keren's work has met with warm reception: Arise, my love, my fair one (2012) was written for and premiered at a service at St John's Cathedral Brisbane celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women; Missa Lumenis (2014) was written for Graeme Morton and the choirs of St John's Cathedral, Brisbane; St James' Old Cathedral, Melbourne commissioned Three Motets (2014); and most recently Riversong (2017) was commissioned for, and premiered by the Voices of Women Festival, under the direction of Faye Dumont. In addition to these works, Keren has had the delight of collaborating with Canticum over the years, producing Veni Veni (2011), Lullaby (2014), Light (2015), and a number of other works for that choir.
Keren is currently working on a major commission for the Girls' Choir of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, another for the Girls' Choir at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, and two others for local churches in Melbourne.
Keren is an Anglican priest, serving as Vicar at St Margaret's, Eltham (as of 2018). She describes her compositional approach as 'a searching for the Light'. Theology is sometimes described as 'faith seeking understanding' (fides quaerens intellectum). Music, for Keren, is an inevitable and essential strand in that quest.
I am the bread of life : SATB choir (2014) Commissioned by the Reverend Matthew Williams and St James' Old Cathedral, Melbourne as part of celebrations marking the 175th Anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone.
Since we are surrounded : SATB choir (2014) Commissioned as part of celebrations marking the 175th Anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone.
Like living stones : SATB choir (2014) Commissioned as part of celebrations marking the 175th Anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone.
Veni, Veni (satb choir with solo voice(s)) (2011) Commissioned by Canticum Chamber Choir.