- born 1959 in Ansbach, Germany - classical piano instruction since age seven - started playing in bands at age 15 (blues, rock, funk, fusion) - jazz-oriented groups with musicians of the 1st AD-Band/US Army - 1979 - 1983 studied music education at the University of Erlangen-Nuernberg

- 1980 German-American Sextet "International Jazz Fusion"

- 1981 startet the quartet "A Touch Of Jazz"
  since that time concerts in all of Germany and in Europe;
  first broadcast productions and live recordings

- 1984 LP "A Touch Of Jazz"

- 1986 2nd place award at the international competition in Karlovy Vary (CZ) with the group 
  "A Touch Of Jazz";
  first concerts of the trio "Energy Transfer"

- since 1987 duo with the guitar virtuoso Uwe Kropinski

- since 1990 intensive solo work - 1991 CD "Piano Solo" - 1992 CD "Change Of Mind";   commissioned to write a composition for the City of   Nuernberg’s cultural project "Facing America";   Duo with Volker Schlott - 1994 CD "In und um C"  with Uwe Kropinski;   three trios with Jens Saleh / Mario Wuerzebesser, Ralf Bauer / Andreas Gandela,    Rudi Mahall / Michael Griener

- 1995 CD "Three Faces [at least]" (solo);
  "Star of the Year" within the category of jazz, awarded by the newspaper Abendzeitung

- 1996 commissioned to write music for the 100th anniversary of Siemens Corp., Nuernberg:
  setting the DIN ISO 9000   to music

- 1997 CD "sweet bAllAd sweet" with Volker Schlott;
  honored with the Culture Award of the City of Nuernberg ;
  concerts in Barcelona, Spain and Rothenburg o.T., Germany  by order of the Goethe Institute

- 1998 commissioned to compose music for the 1,250th anniversary of the City of Ansbach

- 1999 CD-artbook "14 compositions" with the painter Gregor Hiltner;
  solo concerts in Guatemala by request of the German Embassy and the Alexander von Humboldt
  Foundation

- 2000 solo concert as German contribution to the Jazzfestival of the European Union in Mexico-City;
  CD Dieter Koehnlein Quartet: "Live";
  solo tour through Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
   Panama) by request of the   German Foreign Office ; solo concerts in France;
  Balkans tour (Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia) with his trio and quartet for the Goethe Institute

- 2002 concerts in Spain, India, Sri Lanka and Ukraine by request of the Goethe-Institute

- 2003 CD "Stringed Together" with Uwe Kropinski;
  solo tour through Central America ( Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Nicaragua ) by request of the German Foreign Office

- 2005 CD "Tracks" (solo)

- 2006 solo tour through Hungary

- 2009 solo concerts in Italy and China, including a duo concert with the chinese pianist Liang Heping in Beijing

- 2010 "Artist of the Month" (November) of the Metropolitan Region Nuremberg

- 2011 solo tours in Guatemala and Turkey (including a concert at 12. Antalya Piano Festival); CD "Heinz und Dieter" (solo)

- lecturer activity:
  at various jazz workshops

- Festivals:
  Leverkusener Jazztage,
  Jazz East West Nuernberg,
  German Jazz Forum Oldenburg and Fuerth;
  furthermore festivals in Feldkirch (A), Krakau (PL), Skopje and Stip (MAK), Karlovy Vary and Prague CZ),
  Barcelona and Madrid (E), Guatemala (GCA), Mexico-City (MEX), Bratislava (SK),
  Zagreb (HR), Bombay (IND, Antalya (TR)

- literature:
  Reinhard Koechl: "Dieter Koehnlein", in: Werner Kraus (Publisher): Jazz in Bayern, Regensburg 1997,
  P. 178-181
- Martin Kunzler: Jazz-Lexikon (Rowohlt), Reinbek near Hamburg 2002, P. 688 f.
- Juergen Woelfer: Jazz in Deutschland (Hannibal), Hoefen 2008, P. 184