Exploring the Oboe with Demetrios Karamintzas, Oboist

It was his own teacher, the legendary John Mack, who taught Demetrios Karamintzas that teaching is a "sacred duty" of a musician. Since then , he has always maintained this delicate balance of performing and teaching in his career.

Masterclasses and Adjudication

Karamintzas has considerable experience teaching masterclasses, including at Union University (USA), workshops at various music schools in Germany and Greece, as well as at the Jerusalem Music Center, and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, where he often sat on the jury for their competitions.

Workshops with Children

Introducing young people to such an unusual instrument as the oboe is one of the most exciting and rewarding activities in Demetrios Karamintzas's career. Beginning in his days at The Juilliard School in New York City, he was recipient of a Community Fellowshop Service Grant. Later, in Palestine, he introduced hundreds or even thousands of children to the oboe via school workshops and demonstrations.

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In Bulgaria, he and duo-partner Galya Kolarova were winners of a project-competition to present a series of 'Pillow Concerts' for children in Sofia, Bulgaria. This multi-media presentation brings children on a musical journey through time, getting in touch with their feelings and even with their own bodies' rhythm.

On the Greek island of Chios, Demetrios presented workshops together with the violinist Olga Holdorff. They visited public schools, centers for children with behavioral disabilities, as well as a lock-in center for children with severe mental handicaps.

Emergency Music Education

Conflict-Zone music education has been a very important theme to Demetrios Karamintzas. He taught for over ten years in Palestine, with the Barenboim-Said Foundation, Al Kamandjati Music School, and the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, and was part of the team that founded the first ever Palestinian youth orchestra. Especially exciting were the several times he traveled to Gaza to work with children at the Qattan Foundation, and to play concerts at the Latin Church and the French Cultural Center.

Karamintzas was very proud and honored to raise money to donate a full-conservatory system oboe to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, in Kabul in 2015. He completed a similar mission in 2016, and brought an oboe to a young oboist in Damascus, Syria.

Private Lessons

Demetrios Karamintzas has over 15 years experience of private teaching, in North America, Europe and Asia.

Fluent with both American and European reed-systems, he is comfortable to pass on the knowledge he has gained both from his top teachers (John Mack, Elaine Douvas, Sabine Kaselow) as well as his own professional experience.

While his specialty is with pre-college to college-aged students, beginners should not hesitate to contact him as well.

At the moment Demetrios Karamintzas is building two private studios in Berlin, Germany-- one in Berlin-Moabit, and one in Berlin-Wilmersdorf.