Klaus Mäkelä

Conductor / Cello

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“Here was something truly special: a conductor who revelled in freshly imagining each sound.”
(The Times, 2021)

Chief Conductor & Artistic Advisor: Oslo Philharmonic
Music Director: Orchestre de Paris
Artistic Partner: Concertgebouw Orchestra
Music Director Designate: Chicago Symphony Orchestra (from September 2027)

Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä has held the position of Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic since 2020 and Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris since September 2021. He assumes the title of Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in September 2027 and in the same season commences as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. An exclusive Decca Classics artist, he has recorded Stravinsky and Debussy Ballets Russes with Orchestre de Paris. With the Oslo Philhharmonic he has released the complete Sibelius Symphonies, and Sibelius and Prokofiev’s first Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen.

Coinciding with performances at the Salzburg Festival and Musikfest Berlin, Decca Classics releases Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic’s new recording of Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 4, 5 and 6 in August 2024. Shostakovich then continues as a main composer focus in Mäkelä’s fifth season in Oslo, with performances of Symphonies Nos. 1, 11 and 15, whilst the music of Bartók threads through the autumn, with Divertimento and Concerto for Orchestra, works they also perform at the Vienna Musikverein and Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Additional programme highlights include Andrew Norman’s Play; Anders Hillborg’s new Piano Concerto MAX with soloist Emanuel Ax, and Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite.

As Artistic Partner to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mäkelä embarks on a season focus of Schumann’s symphonies, and leads the world premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Ellen Reid, which they also perform on tour in the United States. He returns to Amsterdam to conduct the traditional Christmas Matinée for the third time and leads the orchestra in performances of Mahler Symphonies Nos. 1 & 8 at the Concertgebouw Mahler Festival in May 2025.

For his second appearance as Music Director Designate of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mäkelä leads two weeks of performances at Symphony Hall in Spring 2025, with Mahler Symphony No. 3 followed by a programme featuring Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Daniil Trifonov, Boulez Initiale and Dvořák Symphony No. 7.

Guest conducting engagements in the 2024/25 season include performances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and Berliner Philharmoniker. Mäkelä also makes his first appearance with the Wiener Philharmoniker in Vienna and on tour. This season he is focus artist at the Vienna Musikverein, and Portrait Artist at the Essen Philharmonie and Brussels Bozar.

As a cellist Mäkelä partners with members of the Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and Concertgebouw Orchestra for occasional programmes, and each summer he performs at the Verbier Festival.

“Mäkelä and the players fed off each other’s energy to produce a performance that one hopes was as breathtaking for them to play as it was for the audience to hear … The shattering end of the Rite brought the audience instantly to its feet.”

New York Classical Review, David Wright, March 2024

“The Oslo Philharmonic’s stripped-down opera performance (of Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle) let the music speak for itself … Mäkelä emphasised the different voices so clearly and distinctly that it was like seeing the score in front of you. Truly brilliant, world-class playing.”

Aftenposten, Maren Østravik, February 2024

“Mäkelä managed to reveal unsuspected details throughout (Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition), with the brilliant orchestra always as his excellent instrument. And when we arrived in amazement at The Great Gate of Kiev, the orchestral floodgates opened at exactly the right time. You felt moved by a performance by a legendary maestro from the past.”

Trouw, Peter van der Lint, January 2024

“… Mäkelä’s sure-footed gestures and the relief he gives to details and accents (in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker) never lose sight of the wonder of childhood, with its smiles and thrills. Throughout, the musicians of the Orchestre de Paris cultivate a transparency, a shimmer, a delicate breath that seems to draw Tchaikovsky’s score towards French music … and the conductor’s sense of storytelling is matched by his panache.”

Diapason, Francois Laurent, December 2023

“Throughout the evening, the Finnish conductor managed to balance the tension, speed and colours in a meaningful way … Throughout all six movements (of Mahler Symphony No. 3) he showed an iron control, using emphasis and contrasts sparingly so that all his choices really meant something.”

De Volkskrant, Jenny Camilleri, September 2023

“Makela’s close attention to colouring individual phrases, particularly in the strings, created a beautifully cantabile effect (in Sibelius Symphony no. 7). There was magic, even devilry, in the fast middle part, and scrupulous balance between the sections. Pure refreshment.”

The Times, Neil Fisher, August 2023

“Klaus Mäkelä’s Sixth by Shostakovich sounds haunting from the first bar of the opening Largo, gripping, intense … All shades of gray are filtered out, the music develops a surprising singularity, an inner glow, awakens associations with nature.

Der Tagesspiegel, Fredrik Hanssen, April 2023

“ … Mäkelä’s Tchaikovsky, while not profound, proved terrific … His style of leadership is both commanding and spontaneous. His imprint is personal.”

The Arts Journal, Joe Horowitz, December 2022