“Each subtle gesture of Kondakçi’s baton seemed to suspend time...
The audience was transfixed.”
About
Kristo Kondakçi is a conductor of unusual intensity and warmth, known for his deeply collaborative style, the depth of sound he draws from his ensembles, and spoken introductions that have made his concerts a meeting place between symphonic tradition and contemporary audiences. As the Music Director of the Kendall Square Orchestra, he leads one of the most distinctive American orchestras of his generation, recently praised by the Boston Musical Intelligencer for an "inspired and inspiring" Mahler Sixth.
What’s in Motion Right Now?
My Dear Friends,
I just finished my 2025/26 season and find myself reflecting on what has been one of the most meaningful seasons of my life. Across Kendall Square Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Berklee, and the many rooms where music became a place of encounter, I felt again and again that conducting is something much greater than leading musicians and shaping sound: It is helping people cross into deeper attention, courage, vulnerability, and even humanity.
This year brought me into contact with music that seemed to contain the whole human story: fate, tenderness, rupture, joy, grief, and endurance. Some of this music, especially Mahler’s Sixth, asked more of me than I knew I had to give, and in return, it left me with a renewed sense that this is the life I am called to keep building.
Kendall Square Orchestra is becoming a living civic force. This season, every concert was packed, our audience grew, and the momentum around the orchestra became impossible to ignore. With new Board leadership, an expanding group of committed members and supporters, and a shared vision for what this organization can become, we are building something with real staying power. The goal is not only to present powerful concerts, but to create an institution that can make a lasting impact in the cultural and civic life of our community.
What excites me most is that this vision is becoming real, piece by piece, through the people who believe in it and are helping build it. K²O has the opportunity to become a model for what an orchestra can be in the 21st century: artistically serious, deeply welcoming, connected to the world around it, and capable of bringing people together around beauty, meaning, and shared purpose.
I leave the season profoundly hopeful, because I have seen firsthand how music continues to open doors that almost nothing else can. What we are building together is about more than concerts, it is a place where people can bring the fullness of who they are and leave a little more awake, a little more connected, and a little less alone.
With warm wishes,
