Klaus Mäkelä has been announced as the new Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, following in the footsteps of illustrious conductors such as Charles Munch, Herbert von Karajan, George Solti, Daniel Barenboim and, most recently, Paavo Järvi and Daniel Harding. He takes up the new position in Paris from the start of the 2022/23 season and will act as Artistic Advisor in the interim period. Mäkelä returns to France already on 9 July to perform with the musicians of the Orchestre de Paris for the Philharmonie’s first public concert since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, in a programme featuring Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

The search for a new Music Director was led by both the management and musicians of the Orchestre de Paris and the collective decision resulted in ​“the unanimous choice of Klaus Mäkelä, a conductor with an already established reputation and radiant personality, who showed a genuine desire to work on a long-term basis with the musicians of the Orchestre de Paris and the cultural project initiated by the Philharmonie.”

“I have long admired the Orchestre de Paris as a great orchestra” commented Klaus Mäkelä ​“and the experience of first performing with its wonderful musicians was both intense and fulfilling. That sense of immediate trust and connection meant that I did not hesitate in accepting the invitation to be the orchestra’s next Music Director. I feel immensely lucky to have found such a strong connection with the musicians of both the Orchestre de Paris and the Oslo Philharmonic, with whom I will commence my first season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor this August. What makes these two partnerships particularly exciting is that they are both world class national orchestras with very different and individual qualities, performing music at the heart of two of Europe’s most vibrant cultural capitals. Having these clear, long term commitments will enable me to channel as much of my time and energy into these two important musical homes.”