Detlev Bork is a German guitarist specializing in both classical and flamenco music. On the basis of his large collection of historical scores and recordings he has contributed to musicological projects researching classical guitar music.
Life and career
The grandson of a concert pianist, Bork was born in Kiel where he became a member of the Kieler Knabenchor, a boys choir with which he went on international concert tours. He learned the guitar from age 11 and studied at the Musikhochschule Köln with Tadashi Sasaki and operatic singing with Margarethe van den Eynden and Klaus Jürgen Küper. During 1992–3 he also studied the guitar in London with Carlos Bonell. He took part in master classes with Abel Carlevaro, Eduardo Fernández, Alberto Ponce, José Tomás, Luise Walker, and others. Further studies during the 1990s took him to Spain, extending his knowledge of the flamenco style with Andrés Batista, Félix de Utrera, Luis Maravilla and José Luis Postigo. During this time he also worked with dancers including Lelita de Cadiz, Antonio Romero and José de la Vega. He has performed as soloist, chamber musician and with orchestra throughout Europe, Israel, USA, Canada, and Mexico, and adjudicated at international guitar competitions. His CD The Other Spanish Guitar was elected ‘Classical Recording of the Month’ in March 2000. Bork's strong interest in contemporary music has led to a number of commissions from living composers which he first performed. Bork now lives and works in Heidelberg, Germany. Apart from his artistic and pedagogical work, he is also active as a musicologist. He has been a contributor to journals such as "Stereoplay", "Classical Guitar" or "Ensemble". With almost 8,000 items, he owns one of the largest private collections of recorded classical guitar music in the world and is consulted regularly by various international archives and institutions. He has contributed, with Jörg Jewanski, to numerous biographies of guitarists in the German encyclopedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart . Bork has contributed research papers to guitar symposiums and festivals including the Lake Konstanz Guitar Research Meeting, the El Paso String Series, etc. Since 2013, he is a guest lecturer at Pepperdine University, Malibu.
"Die Gitarre in der Ära der Schellackplatte", in: Ansorge, Peter & Richter, Helmut : Die klassische Gitarre im 20. Jahrhundert. Beiträge zu ihrer Entwicklung im deutschsprachigen Raum, p. 81–110
contributions about guitar composers in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart
