Björn Kempf, M.A. - Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung - Preußischer Kulturbesitz

2000–2006
Studied art history and German at the University of Hamburg. Major: Architectural History. Master's thesis with Prof. Dr. Hermann Hipp with the topic: "Historische Industriearchitektur, Umnutzung und Denkmalpflege" - Master's degree

2000–2003
Awarded the master prize of the Bavarian state government
Honored as best master of the year by the Handwerkskammer für München und Oberbayern
Passed the master examination as woodwind instrument maker in Munich and Mittenwald. Masterpiece: Böhm flute made of solid silver with drawn toneholes and B-foot

1993–1996
Training as a woodwind instrument maker with Martin Wenner in Singen. Construction of transverse flutes after G. A. Rottenburgh, August Grenser, Jacob Denner, Johann Joachim Quantz, Carlo Palanca. Repair and restoration of flutes, clarinets, oboes, saxophones and bassoons. Degree: Bachelor examination in Ludwigsburg, bachelor piece: Böhm flute made of solid silver

1996–2000
Worked for Martin Wenner in Singen and Holger Bastein in Hamburg.

2003–2006
Working as a student assistant in the monument protection office in Hamburg. Researching the construction history of houses in building inspection departments and in the Hamburg State Archives, incorporating the results into the index, archival work, monument mapping, collaboration on the overall list of monuments for Hamburg

Since 2007
Work as a restorer for woodwind-, brass- and percussion instruments in the Musical Instrument Museum of the Berlin State Institute for Music Research (2007–2010 and from 2023) and work as a freelance restorer and master woodwind instrument maker in Berlin. I carry out complex restorations of woodwind instruments, where the focus is always on preserving the substance, but also reconstruction of missing keys which are forged, filed and soldered, wooden parts are turned, rings made of sheet metal are bent, soldered and turned. My tasks also include working on the metal lathe and making my own tools. I restored instruments by Friedrich Kirst Potsdam, Louis Lot Paris, Clair Godfroy ainé Paris, Stefan Koch Vienna, Ziegler Vienna...

"Historische Industriearchitektur, Umnutzung und Denkmalpflege" (= also master's thesis at the University of Hamburg 2006)

„Das Innungshaus der Tuchmacher“ in: Denkmalpflege in Görlitz, ed. by Stadtverwaltung Görlitz, Untere Denkmalschutzbehörde, Zittau 2003, pp. 38–43.

„Säulenordnungen und Portale von Achenbach“ in: 100 Ideen aus 200 Jahren Architekturzeichnungen des Barock, Klassizismus und Historismus, ed. by Jürgen Döring Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Hamburg 2003, pp. 60-65.

„Buffardin und Quantz – ihre technischen Neuerungen an der Traversflöte“, Vortrag auf dem wissenschaftlichen Symposium: Musik im Umbruch. Wirken und Wirkungen von Johann Joachim Quantz (2.12.2023), SIMPK

• Woodwind instruments from the Renaissance to the present day

• Transverse flutes from Berlin/Potsdam workshops