Klaus Mäkelä has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor for the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for a three-year term from the 2018/19 season.
 
Mäkelä, who debuted with the Orchestra in September 2017, is the youngest ever conductor to receive a long-term contract with the Orchestra. Speaking of the new appointment, General Manager of Swedish Radio Concert Hall, Berwaldhallen Helena Wessman said: ​“Forging a link between such an obvious name of the future and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a huge feather in our cap. Klaus Mäkelä is already on everyone’s lips in the international music scene.”

On taking the position, Mäkelä commented: ​“I love the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and I am looking forward to conducting them regularly. From the first rehearsal we clicked in so many ways. The chemistry and relationship between a conductor and an orchestra is different every time of course, but this time the connection was immediate. It really was. Together we are exploring some very different, and really exciting, repertoire. Really exciting!” 

Daniel Harding, the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, commented: ​“Welcome Klaus to the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. I am so thrilled that you are going to part of the team here and I really look forward to your concerts and to your long collaboration with our orchestra who are so excited and so thrilled.”
 
Esa-Pekka Salonen, who was Principal Conductor from 1984 – 1995 and for whom Mäkelä will assist in the Finnish National Opera’s Ring Cyclebeginning in 2019, stated: ​”It’s going to be a great success, I know it!”

Described as possessing ​“a musical intelligence beyond the ordinary” (Norrköpings Tidningar), Klaus Mäkelä debuts this season with orchestras such as Minnesota Orchestra, NAC Orchestra, Ottawa, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfónica de Galicia, and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Still in his early twenties, he has already made a significant impact on the Finnish musical landscape, working regularly with orchestras such as Helsinki Philharmonic and Finnish Radio Symphony orchestras, Tampere and Turku philharmonics, and Tapiola Sinfonietta where he is Artist in Association from 2018/19.