Dietrich Unkrodt

Dietrich Unkrodt (25 August 1934 – 26 June 2006) was a German tubist and double bass player, the principal tubist of the Komische Oper Berlin. He was particularly active as a jazz tubist, appearing internationally. Unkrodt was one of the pioneers of solo tuba music in Germany.

Life Born in Neustadt, Upper Silesia (now Prudnik, Poland), he studied with Richard Iser at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin from 1952 to 1955. He was employed at the Meiningen Theatre from 1956 to 1960, which he premiered in 1978 with the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, conducted by Joachim Willert. It was recorded with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, He toured with it from 1979, including in France, Hungary, the US and Japan. and John D. Stevens wrote Fanfare for a Friend in Unkrodt's honor in 1991. He participated in the DDR Jazznacht for free jazz. The duo Zerbe-Unkrodt also appeared at the (Cologne Jazz House Festival) in 1982. They released an album, Unkrodt/Zerbe, which featured piano, synthesizer, and tuba in 1987 with Amiga Records. From 2003 also at the Universität der Künste Berlin. He was a juror at various national and international competitions.

He edited compositions for tuba for the publisher Verlag Neue Musik. The organization formed in 1973 and since 2001 has been known as the International Tuba Euphonium Association.

Unkrodt died in Cottbus at age 71. Unkrodt stood out from many East German musicians, who typically only had access to music available in East Berlin, which were written by local composers, and were very conservative. According to composer Martin Mayes, Unkrodt's vision "showed an adventurousness and determination to extend the limits of the tuba both for himself" and other musicians. He was versatile and improvised music to "exploit the unconventional sonorities of the tuba", tackling arrangements from pre-classical to contemporary genres. His extended lip techniques, similar to jazz horn artists like Wynton Marsalis, allowed him to develop his versatility.