The conductor and composer, Dietrich Schnabel, was born near Stuttgart, Germany, in 1968. At school, he learned piano and double bass, and whilst still there, he took over the running of several church choirs and choral societies. Between 1991 and 1997, he studied conducting, musicology and art history in Weimar and Cologne.

Dietrich Schnabel has been involved in musical training for adults since his school days. Early on, he specialised in working with recorder orchestras and now enjoys international renown as a leading professional conductor in this area. His unstinting efforts over a 20-year period have contributed to the development of traditional German recorder ensembles to a full and richly coloured sound. Today, he is the resident conductor of four recorder orchestras spread across the whole of Germany and which he founded himself such as the internationally known “Blockflötenconsort Dortmund” (Dortmund Recorder Consort, DORC) with its collection of about 20 Contrabass and 25 Great Bass recorders. The largest of these orchestras, the “Württembergische Blockflötenorchester” (Württemberg Recorder Orchestra, WBO), has some 100 players of all ages. (www.blockfloetenorchester.de).

Numerous international contacts have given Dietrich Schnabel’s activities fresh impetus. His collaboration with the British conductor and composer, Eileen Silcocks, plays a central role in this aspect of his work. Dietrich Schnabel has been a guest conductor of the Scottish Recorder Orchestra on a regular basis since 2006 and was one of the conductors invited to the international congress of the European Recorder Teachers’ Association in September 2008. The CD series “Schnabelflötentöne”, which he initiated, is devoted exclusively to ensemble and orchestra music for the recorder. Currently comprising four CDs, it is rightly regarded as a pioneer oeuvre in this area.

For a number of years, Dietrich Schnabel has presented his own compositions in public. His piece, “Feuer und Eis” (“Fire and Ice”) of 2001, like all his subsequent compositions, is premised upon filling the term ‘recorder orchestra’ with life, and thus creating a new sound for the 21st century in its own right. The pinnacle of this achievement was his Symphony No 1 in D Minor for recorder orchestra in 14 parts. This work, composed in 2006-7, reflects the Classical and Romantic tradition of a symphony in four movements, with a total length of about 35 minutes. The symphony was premiered in Edinburgh in October 2008 and was published by Steve and Ann Marshall of Gloucestershire in their May Hill Edition at the end of the same year. Other compositions by Dietrich Schnabel, such as “Playford Rhapsody”, “Die Mädels” (“The Girls”) and “7x7. Seven Times Seven Times in Seven Parts”, have likewise been rapidly adopted internationally and already enjoy a firm place in the standard repertoire of recorder orchestras. His most recent compositions include “Sinfonietta”, commissioned in 2007 by the Northern Recorder Course (Burton Manor, Cheshire) for its chamber recorder orchestra 2008, and the “BEG Capriccio”, composed for the 10th anniversary of the Blockflöten-Ensemble Garbsen in 2008. “Traumgesichte” (“Dreamscapes”) of 2009, in which personal experiences are processed, is dedicated to Annette Bachmann for her work in building up the Württemberg Recorder Orchestra.

Dietrich Schnabel lives with his wife and four children in Gudensberg near Kassel, Germany.

german version