Dierk Peters, originally from Hamburg in Germany, is a Brooklyn-based Vibraphonist and Marimbist. He also composes music and is an educator. From age 8 to 18, he played the drums until he was 18. Then he switched to the Vibraphone, which is now his main instrument. He took lessons with Franck Tortiller, David Friedman and Florian Poser and began his studies at HFMT Cologne in 2007. He graduated in 2012 with high honors. He lived and worked in Cologne before the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), gave him the opportunity in 2007 to move to New York to enroll in the Jazz-Performance master programme at the University of New York. He studied at NYU with Drew Gress and Chris Potter, among others. He transferred to Manhattan School of Music for his second year of Masters. This was the first time in school history that he was allowed to do so. He continued his studies at MSM with Stefon Harris and Matthew Ward. Phil Markowitz, Chris Rosenberg and Chris Rosenberg. In May 2018, he received his Master of Music degree. He won the prestigious ‘Jugend Jazzt competitions with the ‘Charlotte Greve/Dierk Peters Duo’ and was awarded special soloist awards in both the regional and national levels. The 2008 Praetorius Musik Preis – Niedersachsen was awarded to the duo, which is the highest music price in Lower Saxony. He was also awarded a special soloist prize at the B-Jazz’ competition, Burghausen, and was awarded the Convento Jazzpreis’ in 2011 with his band ‘Offshore. His quintet, ‘Offshore,’ which he co-leads along with pianist Constantin Krahmer released 3 records on Klaeng Records. Its debut record, ‘Cote de Cologne,’ was also released in the ‘Next Generation’ – Series of DoubleMoon Records as well as the magazine Jazzthing’. Since its debut, the band received support from the ‘Initiative Musik. They played hundreds of shows. His quartet, ‘Botter’, was also co-led by Julian Ritter as saxophonist. Its debut album was released in 2015. The 4 records attracted the attention of nearly all German jazz magazines and broadcast stations. They led to him playing at such prestigious festivals as the WDR Jazzfest Koln 2013, Jazzfestival Saarbrucken 2013, Jazzlights Festival 2014 and Jazzfestival Saarbrucken 2014. His solo debut album, ‘Ambrosia’, was recorded in Fall 2017 with support from the state of Lower Saxony and in cooperation with the Deutschlandfunk. It is currently being released. from https://dierkpeters.lima-city.de
