© 2019 Tumen Dondukov
Dimitris
Karagiannakidis
Violoncello, Chamber Music
Artistic Director
Dimitris Karagiannakidis was born in Thessaloniki and has been living in Germany for the last years, where he works as a cellist, member of chamber music ensembles and teacher.
He holds a cello diploma from the Contemporary Conservatory of Thessaloniki (class of Russi Dragnev), a Bachelor of Music with specialization in Orchestral Music from the Music University of Saarbrücken, Germany (class of Ulrich Voss) and a Master of Music from the Music University of Münster, Germany (class of Matias de Oliveira Pinto). He has studied String Quartet at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Dutch Academy of String Quartets, with chamber music specialists such as Marc Danel, Stefan Metz, Eberhard Feltz, etc. At the same time he was also a cello student of Mick Stirling. He is currently studying in the Solo Class (Konzertexamen) of Matias de Oliveira Pinto in Münster.
He has attended masterclasses with Marcio Carneiro, Martin Osten, Arthur Hornig, Mario Blaumer, Dmitry Ferschtman, Valeri Aimard, Giorgos Chatzinikos, Dimitris Gouzios, Fabio Soren Presgrave, Ran Varon, Stefan Litwin and Theo Brandmueller. As a member of a string quartet he has participated in masterclasses with: Quatuor Danel, Quatuor Debussy, Cuarteto Quiroga, Vera Martinez (Cuarteto Casals) and Luc-Marie Aguera (Quatuor Ysaÿe).
He has given recitals, chamber music concerts as well as concerts as a member of different orchestras in Greece, Germany, Holland, China, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Spain, Hungary and Egypt. He has also repeatedly worked with composers and performed several premieres. He has appeared as a soloist, among others, with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra.
Since 2011 he has had a steady collaboration with the pianist Alexios Lizos with concerts in Germany, Belgium and Greece. Since 2020 he is a founding member of the Oros Ensemble (orosensemble.com), a group of young Greek musicians, created with the support of the Greek National Opera, that performs works from different eras, from the Baroque to the present day and already has premiered several works that were composed after a special commission. He is a member of the Pangæa Quintet and the 12 Cellists of Hellweg, two formations with intense concert activity in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Since 2023 he has been collaborating with the Chilean pianist Ignacio González.
He has participated in festivals such as: "Janine Jansen and Friends" in the Netherlands, "ProQuartet", "Saoú chante Mozart" and "Cordes en Ballade" in France, "Tatai Barokk Fesztivál" and "Concerto Tata" in Hungary, "SAX15 " in Amsterdam, "Dimitria" in Thessaloniki and "Mediterranean Festival" in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. He participated in a chamber music concert tour in Brazil, where he also taught the cello at the festival "Semana da Música de Ouro Branco".
Since 2020 he holds the position of principal cellist and cello teacher of the CJD Youth Orchestra with concerts, among others, at the Philharmonie in Berlin.
He is a cello teacher at Musikschulkreis Lüdinghausen, while in the past he has also taught systematically in Thessaloniki.
Since 2015, he has been artistic director and cello teacher at PelionFestival (pelionfestival.com) in Greece.
During the period 2010-2013, he was a scholarship holder of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (I.K.Y.).