David Kuckhermann

Grammy-nominated percussionist, composer and educator specialising in handpan, frame drums and a wide range of global percussion traditions.

David Kuckhermann is a Berlin-based percussionist, composer and teacher whose work connects handpan technique with a broad study of frame drums and world percussion. His musical education has drawn on traditions from India, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Africa and Europe, as well as contemporary composition and performance practice. He has toured with artists and ensembles including Dead Can Dance, contributed to Grammy-nominated recordings and developed a reputation for combining precise technique with musical phrasing rather than treating virtuosity as an end in itself. Kuckhermann is also the founder of Handpan Dojo and the World Percussion Academy, where structured courses make advanced rhythmic concepts accessible to players at different levels. His handpan work is therefore inseparable from his wider identity as a researcher, multi-instrumentalist and educator who places the instrument within a much larger percussion vocabulary.