Fabian Dirr was born in Erlangen and began his musical education at the age of six. He was already a prize-winner in several competitions before he began his studies at the Hanover University of Music and Drama with Hans Deinzer, which he completed as a master student.
While still a student, he gained experience in the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and as a member of numerous chamber music ensembles, the Kammermusiktage Hitzacker, the Hohenloher Musiksommer and the Sächsisch-Böhmisches Musikfestival. He regularly performed with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. After engagements with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford and the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, he was principal clarinetist with the Munich Philharmonic.
Since 1995 Fabian Dirr has been the coordinated principal clarinettist of the Dresden Philharmonic.
As an orchestral soloist, he has appeared with the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, among others.
As a soloist he has performed works by Weber, Mozart, Copland, Nielsen, Debussy and Rossini in Germany, Spain and Finland. He has worked with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christopher Hogwood and Santtu Matias Rouvalli, among others. In 1996 he was awarded the Kulturförderpreis of the city of Erlangen for his solo and chamber music work. In 2002 he gave a guest performance as soloist at the International Organ Week Nuremberg. Since 1996 he has been co-founder and musical director of the Carus Ensemble Dresden.
Fabian Dirr is professor for clarinet at the Hochschule Carl Maria von Weber Dresden.