Symphony for Science.
Kristo Kondakçi
Conductor and Creative Entrepreneur
Eureka Ensamble
PAST EMPLOYERS: Music Director of Kendall Square Orchestra, Narragansett Bay Symphony, and Eureka Ensemble
Kristo Kondakçi is the music director of the Kendall Square Orchestra, the Narragansett Bay Symphony, and the Eureka Ensemble. He has distinguished himself as a talented young conductor of symphonic and operatic repertoire.
Kristo made his professional debut with the Albanian National Orchestra in 2014. He made his European opera debut with the Vienna Summer Music Festival Opera in 2018 and his U.S. opera debut with Boston’s Enigma Chamber Opera in 2020.
The first conductor ever to be officially hired by a biotech company, Kristo helped form Kendall Square Orchestra (K²O) in 2018 with cofounders Elena Spencer and Kelly Clark, building a roster of over 70 musicians representing 50+ companies. In 2019, Kristo conducted K²O’s inaugural Symphony for Science at Boston’s Symphony Hall. Symphony for Science, now an annual event, has raised over $120,000 to support local charities.
Kristo launched Eureka Ensemble in 2017 with cellist Alan Toda–Ambaras to nurture social impact through music, partnering with acclaimed artists such as violist Kim Kashkashian and violinist Midori to deliver community-intensive programming and performances at the highest level of excellence. His projects with Eureka, such as The Women’s Chorus and Boston Hope Music, have been widely-praised by PBS, NPR, the Boston Globe and NowThisNews, among others.
Kristo has served as interim director of orchestral studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2019), leading the graduate conducting program in addition to conducting the university orchestras. He has also made a significant contribution to the musicological research of Gustav Mahler’s music through his reconstruction of the original version of Mahler's 1st Symphony (2012). He currently teaches young conductors in a private studio and coaches chamber music at Harvard University as a non-resident music tutor with Pforzheimer House.
Off the podium, Kristo directs a leadership development program with Kendall Square Orchestra called The Leading Tone: Transforming Business Through Music. The program, still in its early stages, has seen strong demand from corporate and executive leaders and companies all over the world, including PWC and Kinden Corp.
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