Dietmar Dürk

Wind instrument maker

Made well every time

Dietmar's horns are played in the world's most famous concert halls
The process of making horns never ceases to fascinate him
Making horns by hand imposes less strain on the materials than using machines would

Dietmar Dürk has been playing brass instruments since his childhood. A trumpet player from the age of seven, he first learned instrument making with his music teacher, who had an instrument workshop. He soon realised that he liked the craft, so he completed his apprenticeship at the Musik Alexander company in Mainz. After passing his master's examination with honours, Dietmar fulfilled the requirements for opening his own brass instrument workshop. In 2000 he turned his passion into the production of his own horn line and within a very short time the name DürkHorns became synonymous worldwide with quality, service, and precision craftsmanship. Today he works with world-renowned musicians like Radek Baborak, with whom he developed the D3 Signature Series of horns, as well as with Dale Clevenger and Alessio Allegrini.

Interview

What is your relationship to tradition and innovation?: I highly value and try to maintain the traditional way of making instruments, because it simply makes instruments better. You cannot replace handmade with machine-made. I can proudly say that I have introduced innovations that are now being copied all over the world. In a sense, we are always in a tightrope between traditional instrument-making and how to include machines into the process.
Is your craft in any way linked to the territory?: No. Our horns should not be confused with traditional Bavarian hunting horns. These are the instruments used by the great composers – Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn – in the symphonies they composed, and which later spread all over the world.
What do you find most fascinating about your craft?: Versatility. The fact that there is so much to discover. The work is very varied: we work with metal, grinding, soldering, bending, turning, and milling. There are so many different things to do. In my profession, everything has to be learned. What an instrument maker does, nobody else does, and that is what is most fascinating.
What qualities do you need to have in order to practise your craft?: You need patience and diligence, because you have to polish the surface a lot to make it of good quality. I always say to my colleagues: it is not difficult to make one horn, the art is in being able to do it all again and again. That is the hardest thing of all – being able to make each horn equally well.

Dietmar Dürk is a master artisan: he began his career in 2000 and he started teaching in 2004