Born in Sicily and currently 20 years old, Carlo Mistretta began studying the oboe at the age of eight at the “V. Bellini” Conservatory in Caltanissetta. He graduated with highest honours and distinction from the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano in 2025, where he studied with Maestro Francesco Di Rosa.
He has attended masterclasses with Luca Vignali, Jean-Louis Capezzali, Domenico Orlando, Fabien Thouand, François Leleux and Albrecht Mayer. In 2018, he attended an advanced training course at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, taught by Maestro Francesco Di Rosa.
In 2016, he received the “Leonardo per la Musica” Award at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and in 2017 he was invited to the Chamber of Deputies by the Honourable Laura Boldrini on the occasion of the Festa della Musica, where he was presented to the media as one of Italy’s most promising young talents.
In 2020, he was awarded First Prize and a scholarship from the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan. He was also selected for the special WESPE Prize – Wochenende der Sonderpreise Jugend Musiziert-Germany. He received Second Prize and the Special Jury Prize for Best Performance of the Third Movement of the Concerto at the 10th Giuseppe Ferlendis International Oboe Competition in 2024.
He has performed as principal oboe with the Orchestra of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (OSI), the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, and the Human Rights Orchestra. As second oboe, he has performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
He has performed and recorded for RSI (Swiss Radio and Television) during the “Festival 700” in the Serenata per fiati No. 10 “Gran Partita” by W. A. Mozart, together with soloists from the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia — Francesco Di Rosa, Andrea Zucco — the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (Calogero Palermo), the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Davide Lattuada), the Orchestre de la Suisse Italiana (Enrico Fagone), among others.
He performed as a soloist with violinist Janine Jansen at Palazzo Colonna in Rome on the occasion of the state visit of the King and Queen of the Netherlands, in honour of President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella.
He plays a Buffet Légende Hybrid oboe.
