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Thomas Leininger studied harpsichord, organ, historical basso continuo, and improvisation at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In 2009, he was awarded the Advancement Prize of the Basel Organists' Association. As a composer, he premiered his second opera as early as 2003, with support from the Ernst von Siemens Foundation. In 2005, he received a commission from the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe during the Handel Festival to complete the fragmentarily preserved orchestral parts and arias of the opera Almira. This was followed by commissions from the Staatstheater Heidelberg in 2006 and 2009 to reconstruct and newly compose missing sections of Antonio Vivaldi’s operas Motezuma and Bajazet, which were successfully performed in Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. In 2008, he completed recitatives and ensemble sections in historical style for Galuppi’s opera Arcifanfano, performed at the Ekhof Theater in Gotha and in Basel.

In 2012, his first baroque children’s opera Dino and the Ark premiered at the Karlsruhe Handel Festival, followed in 2013 by a commission from the Margarethen-Kantorei Binningen for a Christmas oratorio for children (libretto by Tina Hartmann).

In 2004, Thomas Leininger was a fellow at the German Study Center in Venice, where he focused on the operas of Pierfrancesco Cavalli. He is the author of the entries "Performance Practice" and "Recitative" in the Handel Lexicon, published in 2010 by Laaber Verlag. Since 2016, he has been teaching performance practice and basso continuo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.