©Photo: Marco Borggreve

Klaus Mäkelä

Conductor / Cello

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”The result was a profoundly gripping performance, one that grabbed the attention and never let go. It also thrilled at the individual level, conjuring through impressive solos and sectional work the majesty, stillness, and raw power of nature.”
(The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2019)

Chief Conductor & Artistic Advisor: Oslo Philharmonic
Artistic Advisor (from 20/21) & Music Director (from 22/23): Orchestre de Paris
Artistic Director: Turku Music Festival
Principal Guest Conductor: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Artist in Association: Tapiola Sinfonietta

Klaus Mäkelä commences his first season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in August 2020. With Orchestre de Paris he assumes the role of Artistic Advisor from 2020/21 for two seasons, before becoming the orchestra’s next Music Director from September 2022. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Artist in Association with Tapiola Sinfonietta, and Artistic Director of the Turku Music Festival.

In addition to his first season of concerts with the Oslo Philharmonic, the 2020/21 season sees Mäkelä make his first appearances with The Gewandhausorchester, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and SWR Symphonieorchester. He returns to the Gothenburg Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and conducts the Orchestre de Paris in two programmes as Music Director Designate. Mäkelä also continues his tenures with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Tapiola Sinfonietta, where he completes a Beethoven Cycle spanning three seasons. This season’s concert programmes include masterworks by Mahler, Sibelius, Mozart, Ravel, Mendelssohn, Bruckner and Tchaikovsky. Mäkelä also conducts premieres by Unsuk Chin, Sauli Zinovjev and Mette Henriette and recently written works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Kaija Saariaho, Brett Dean and Jimmy López.

Klaus Makela — Klaus Mäkelä ©Marco Borggreve

Highlights from the 2019/20 season include appearances with the Cleveland, Frankfurt Radio, City of Birmingham Symphony orchestras, Hallé, Bamberger Symphoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Philharmoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Mäkelä made his operatic debut with the Finnish National Opera conducting The Magic Flute and a concertante performance of Erkki Melartin’s Aino.

Mäkelä studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula and cello with Marko Ylönen, Timo Hanhinen and Hannu Kiiski. As a soloist, he has performed with several Finnish orchestras and as a chamber musician with the musicians of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and at many Finnish festivals. He plays a Giovanni Grancino cello from 1698, kindly made available to him by the OP Art Foundation.

Symphony No. 1 / Gustav Mahler / Klaus Mäkelä / Oslo Philharmonic © Oslo Philharmonic

The Oslo Philharmonic with conductor Klaus Mäkelä perform Largo (3rd movement) from Shostakovich's Symphony No.5, Oslo Concert Hall © Oslo Philharmonic

Klaus Mäkelä - Schostakovitsch: Symphony No.7 © hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 / Klaus Mäkelä / Oslo Philharmonic © Oslo Philharmonic

“The Finnish conductor has already made a strong impression. We will have to break the habit of talking about Klaus Mäkelä as a “young conductor”. He already has everything of a big one and assumes his musical choices with a rare maturity.”

(Le Figaro, Christian Merlin, July 2020)

“… He impresses with his precision, flexible gestures, exceptional mastery of the musical dialogue, rhythm, tempo, space, colour. The voices are clearly differentiated, the lines airy, the harmony luxuriant. He knows how to allow the orchestra to breathe by letting loose of the straps.”

(La Croix, Bruno Serrou, July 2020)

“… Impressive is the maturity of Mäkelä, a conductor with clear ideas and gentle manners, elegant and restrained gestures, but at the same time clear and eloquent, who avoids brusqueness and prominence on the podium. For him, music and musicians come first.”

(Scherzo, Miguel Ángel González Barrio, July 2020)

“… there they were: big crescendos, shimmering brass, sonorous strings, expressiveness, the differing characters of each movement (of Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3). The young Finn … relied entirely on chamber music transparency and achieved a wonderful homogeneity with a fine economy of body language. “

(Süddeutsche Zeitung, Klaus Kalchschmid, June 2020)

“The Cleveland Orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 was stunning, with TCO and Mäkelä completely on the same wavelength. … The members of The Cleveland Orchestra themselves gave Mäkelä the ultimate, and rare, accolade of putting down their instruments to applaud the young visiting conductor. Mäkelä in tandem with The Cleveland Orchestra were simply sensational.”

(Bachtrack, October 2019)

“Makela himself had a fairly high bar to reach on the second half of the program, conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No.7, a beloved and well-known work about which almost every aficionado has an opinion. Consider that bar reached.”

(The Plain Dealer, October 2019)

“But the star of the show was Mozart’s Requiem […] and given an urgent, sharply defined account by Mäkelä and his vocal and instrumental forces. … a thoroughly convincing account, fresh and forthright.”

(Scotsman, October 2019)

“Mäkelä knew exactly how to build from slow and sinister, brooding and ponderous into a veritable firecracker of a finale, crashing cymbals and timpani utilised to magnificent effect.”

(Bachtrack, September 2019)

“The granite-like climaxes of the second movement, interspersed with atmospheric silences, were extremely powerful and at the end of the journey Mäkelä created an irresistible surge, finally unleashing all the pent-up energy from the preceding movements.”

(Bachtrack, October 2018)

“A high level of performance, led by Klaus Mäkelä, glowed with colour… Young Mäkelä delivered a masterpiece as an opera conductor”

(Helsingin Sanomat, May 2017)

“Oulu Symphony Orchestra seemed obviously liberated by the Mäkelä’s energy, particularly in Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 op. 92 in which the jubilation could be sensed throughout the whole hall.“

(Kaleva newspaper, January 2017)

“Our country’s music education system has produced a number of internationally successful conductors. The latest addition is 20-year-old Klaus Mäkelä. With a bright talent and determination he captured the audience of the Kymi Sinfonietta concert. His bold movements encouraged the Orchestra to play with real feeling.”

(Kymen Sanomat, October 2016)

“Mäkelä conducted gloriously – self confident and powerful, but at the same time graceful and controlled.”

(Rondo Classic, March 2016)

“The young Klaus Mäkelä is a great conducting talent. His debut with Tapiola Sinfonietta showed that in front of the orchestra he has a natural authority. His musical abilities are so strong that it’s easy for him to gain the trust of the musicians. In Tchaikovsky’s Mozartiana and Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, he demonstrated his fine sense of phrasing, sound, rhythm and nuance.”

(Helsingin Sanomat, January 2016)

“Klaus Mäkelä is an extraordinary talent, who will go far. He manages to channel his musical expression in a constructive way.”

(Huvudstadsbladet, January 2016)

“You can already now say that Klaus Mäkela is a true conductor”

(Turun Sanomat, March 2015)