Juilliard-trained oboist Demetrios Karamintzas is equally at home in his native New York, his adopted home of Jerusalem, or his new home of Berlin. Immediately after receiving his Masters degree from The Juilliard School in 2004, he began full-time as principal oboist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, IBA, where he remained for seven years. Balancing his Israeli teaching and performing career, Karamintzas has been very active with the Barenboim-Said Foundation and Al Kamandjati music schools in Ramallah, and helped to build the first Palestinian youth orchestra, together with the Edward Said National Conservatory of Palestine.
Mr. Karamintzas has been featured as soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra very frequently, with works ranging from the Baroque to the 20th century. Many other orchestras invited him as guest principal oboist, such as the Israel Philharmonic, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, with whom he performed in the Edinburgh International Festival. He has also performed at many other festivals, such as the Musikfest Schloss Wonfurt in Germany, 30TageKunst Festival in Berlin, Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, the Israel Festival, the Eilat International Chamber Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was awarded the Ralph Gomberg Prize for Oboe.
In 2011, Mr. Karamintzas moved to Berlin in order to enjoy the flexibility of chamber music and freelance orchestra playing. He very quickly was appointed principal oboist of Orchestra Mobile, a very ‘mobile’ chamber orchestra performing throughout Europe. In November 2012 he founded a duo with the Bulgarian pianist Galya Kolarova, with whom he has already performed in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Israel and Bulgaria, with plans for recording a CD. No matter where he is in the world, Mr. Karamintzas keeps in close contact to his educational projects in Ramallah, which remain very dear to his heart.