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Minnesota Orchestra Appoints Violinist Leonidas Kavakos Principal Guest Conductor

February 19, 2026, 3:21 PM · On Thursday the Minnesota Orchestra announced the appointment of Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos as its principal guest conductor, beginning in the fall of 2027.

The three-year appointment will feature Kavakos in three weeks of subscription concerts each season, including conducting the orchestra at least twice a season. He also will appear in additional concerts and artistic projects as soloist or chamber music collaborator.

Originally from Athens, Kavakos, 58, has more than 30 years of history with the Minnesota Orchestra, having debuted with the orchestra in March 1995, playing the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. He returned over the next five years for 16 performances across the season and summer and has been a regular soloist ever since, including appearing with the Orchestra in performances of the Sibelius Violin Concerto at Carnegie Hall in May 2009. As a conductor, he first led the Minnesota Orchestra in a May 2023 program featuring Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 1. For his most recent appearance, last October, he led as a soloist for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 and conducted Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15.

"I am thrilled to be joining the Minnesota Orchestra as its principal guest conductor," Kavakos said in a statement. "As a young music student still forming a musical identity, I was deeply inspired by the Minnesota Orchestra’s recordings with the legendary Dimitri Mitropoulos."

"I first conducted the Orchestra in 2023 and the rehearsals and performances were pure joy," he said. "I felt an immediate chemistry with my colleagues, and together we've found the sense of expressive freedom that every musician aims for."

"We are very happy to welcome Leonidas Kavakos into this new role," said Music Director Thomas Søndergård. "He is an artist of great integrity and creativity who will bring conviction, passion and interesting projects to our Orchestra and audiences."

Kavako's appointment as Principal Guest Conductor marks the first this century, for the Minnesota Orchestra. Leonard Slatkin was principal guest conductor role from 1975 to 1979, then Klaus Tennstedt served in the position from 1979 to 1982 and Charles Dutoit from 1983 to 1986.

"It has been 40 years since the Minnesota Orchestra has appointed a principal guest conductor," said President and CEO Isaac Thompson, "and we are thrilled to revisit the position with an artist of Leonidas Kavakos’ caliber and brilliance."

Brought up in a musical family in Athens, Kavakos first garnered international recognition as a teenager, when he won the Sibelius Competition in 1985; then first prize in both the Paganini and Naumburg competitions, in 1988. A longtime soloist with major orchestras across the world with a robust recording catalogue, Kavakos has made a strong entry into the field of conducting in recent years, conducting the New York Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Vienna Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and more. In 2022, he was elected by the Academy of Athens as a member of the Chair of Music in the Second Class of Letters and Fine Arts for his services to music. In 2024, he was appointed professor of violin at the Basel Academy of Music. He plays the 1743 "Willemotte" Stradivari violin.

"The musicians of the orchestra are delighted by this new chapter in our relationship with Leonidas Kavakos," said violinist Emily Switzer, who serves as chair of the Minnesota Orchestra Members Committee. "It's been such a pleasure in recent seasons to experience his artistry as a conductor in addition to his charismatic violin playing. He is a uniquely imaginative and inspiring musician — our recent performance of Shostakovich's thorny and experimental Symphony No. 15 under Kavakos’ direction was a musical highlight for many members of the orchestra, and we look forward to all that this new partnership will bring."

You might also like:

• Violinist.com interview with Leonidas Kavakos: Brahms and Bartók (2013)
• For the Record, Op. 278: Leonidas Kavakos' Bach Violin Concertos
• Why the Critics Aren'ts Always Right

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