The Dortmund Recorder Consort (DORC) was formed in 1994 as a result of a course on recorder ensemble playing held by Dietrich Schnabel during the First Dortmund Sacred Music Week. Now, the DORC is one of the largest recorder orchestras, that rehearse and perform regularly in Germany.

The DORC consists of some 50 enthusiastic and experienced recorder players of all ages, from 13 to 75 years, playing instruments ranging in size from the 6-inches Garklein to the 6-foot Contrabass in F (called "Subbass" in Germany). The instrumentation of the DORC consists of up to about 20 great basses in C, 15 contrabasses in F, two contrabasses in C and one Sub-Contrabass in F (Paetzold Model), which gives a rich and beautiful sound.

The Dortmund Recorder Consort performing its summer concert in the Mallinckrodt High School Dortmund on 18. July 2004


Photo:
Malgorzata Calusinska

The DORC meets for rehearsal once per month on Saturday afternoon in the "Schalomzentrum" in Dortmund-Scharnhorst from 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. under the leadership of our musical director and conductor Dietrich Schnabel. Players are mainly from the Ruhr, but some players travel long distances to take part, from as far as Cologne, Hannover or Frankfurt/Main.

The DORC at rehearsal some years ago.

The DORC performs in general one public concert per year, in autumn or winter, in one of the Dortmund churches, schools or halls. In the autumn of 2005 we were delighted to play in Furth im Wald in the Bavarian Forest.

May 2008: Visit by the Scottish Recorder Orchestra  at "Haus Nordhelle" with a common concert of both orchestras in Dortmund, Mallinckrodt Gymnasium (see foto on top) on Sunday 4th May.
October 2008: Tour to Scotland, Carberry Tower, with a concert of both orchestras in Edinburgh on Sunday 5th October.

In general we prefer original music, from renaissance to modern, which is composed for recorder group or recorder orchestra. We sometimes play music written or arranged specially for our group by several composers (Allan Rosenheck, Siegfried Rath, Eileen Silcocks, Steve Marshall, Dietrich Schnabel).
Further details see: Repertoire.

The Dortmund Recorder Consort has recorded one CD and participated in recording three more CDs. The CDs "Schnabelflöten I -IV" include both ancient and contemporary music, one CD is on Christmas Music.
More information about the CDs is available via the CD link. You can listen to two samples taken from two of our CDs.

Conductor and Musical Director:
Dietrich Schnabel, E-mail: DietrichSchnabel@t-online.de