Kondakçi’s engagement with Mahler runs deep: as a student at New England Conservatory, he reconstructed a performing edition of the original 1889 version of Mahler’s First Symphony, premiered by the NEC Philharmonia under Hugh Wolff and noted by The Boston Globe, WGBH, and the Boston Musical Intelligencer. His K²O seasons pair core repertoire with contemporary voices including Reena Esmail, Gabriela Ortiz, Carlos Simon, and Caroline Shaw, organized around themes that connect symphonic experience to questions of resilience, renewal, and collective responsibility. The current season closes on May 15, 2026 at Sanders Theatre with Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Adrian Anantawan, and Brahms’s Fourth Symphony.

K²O’s philanthropic dimension is integral to its artistic mission. The orchestra’s Symphony for Science initiative has raised significant support for Boston charities, most recently the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Kondakçi’s collaboration with the Next Step Fund and a major global pharmaceutical company produced “Come and Walk a Mile,” an anthem for rare disease awareness released worldwide. During the COVID-19 crisis, he co-launched Boston Hope Music with New England Conservatory and Massachusetts General Hospital, delivering therapeutic performances for patients and frontline workers.

Kondakçi’s conviction that orchestral music carries genuine public stakes is shaped by his family’s history. Born in Tirana, Albania, he came to the United States as a political refugee with his family from Enver Hoxha’s Communist regime. His grandfather, Beqir Omari, was imprisoned in Albania for performing Western music; his great-uncle, a virtuoso musician and physician, was executed. His mother and countless family members were sent to internment camps. This legacy informs his belief that music has the power to inspire resilience, unite communities, and speak across cultures. His 2014 debut with the Albanian National Orchestra led to recognition as a cultural representative of the Albanian diaspora, and he maintains an ongoing relationship with the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania.

This vision has shaped Kondakçi’s broader work as a builder of new musical institutions. In 2017, he co-founded the Eureka Ensemble, a professional chamber orchestra serving immigrant, refugee, and homeless communities. In 2018, he co-founded the Women’s Chorus for women experiencing homelessness in partnership with the Women’s Lunch Place in Boston. Now in its seventh year, the chorus has given hundreds of women, ages 17 to 82, a safe and affirming space for musical expression, and has emerged as an international model for music’s role in restoring dignity and community. The chorus was spotlighted by NowThis News to an audience of more than ten million and recognized with Berklee’s Urban Service Award.

Kondakçi serves as Assistant Professor of Conducting at Berklee College of Music and as Non-Resident Tutor in Music at Harvard University, where he coaches chamber music at Pforzheimer House. He has been a featured speaker at TEDxBoston and the League of American Orchestras, and through The Leading Tone, his K²O leadership development program, has worked with executives from organizations including PwC and Kinden Corporation on the application of conducting principles to organizational practice.

Beyond his Boston work, Kondakçi serves as cover conductor for the Portland Symphony Orchestra, has held assistant conductorships with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Boston Landmarks Orchestra, and made his U.S. opera conducting debut in 2020 with Enigma Chamber Opera in a sold-out production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw that drew critical praise from The Boston Globe.

Kondakçi holds Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from the New England Conservatory, where he now serves on the President’s Council. He lives in Boston with his wife, Chloe.