Klaus Mäkelä is Chief Conductor of Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Klaus Mäkelä is Chief Conductor of Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of Orchestre de Paris and, from Autumn 2022, Artistic Partner of Concertgebouw Orchestra. An exclusive Decca Classics Artist, he has recorded the complete Sibelius Symphony cycle with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra as his first project for the label.
Mäkelä’s third season as Chief Conductor of Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra features eleven contrasting programmes, with repertoire ranging from Jean Baptiste Lully and Pietro Locatelli to Alban Berg and Mahler to Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Julia Perry. In Autumn 2022, Mäkelä and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra embark on their second European tour with performances in Germany, Belgium and Austria with soloist Sol Gabetta.
For his second season as Music Director of Orchestra de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä has chosen to spotlight composers Pascal Dusapin, Betsy Jolas, Jimmy López Bellido, Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho, the latter featured with three different works. There is also a focus on the Ballets Russes, with two key Diaghilev scores: Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Rite of Spring. In Spring 2023, Mäkelä and Orchestre de Paris tour throughout Europe with Janine Jansen as soloist.
With Concertgebouw Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä embarks on a long-term collaboration, joining the orchestra as Artistic Partner with effect from the 2022/23 season and as its next Chief Conductor in 2027. For their first season together, they perform six programmes including Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, Mozart’s Requiem and Strauss’ Eine Alpensinfonie as well as premieres by López Bellido, Sauli Zinovjev, Alexander Raskatov and Sally Beamish. On tour they perform the opening concert of the Musikfest Berlin and at the Koln Philharmonie.
As a guest conductor in the 2022/23 season, Klaus Mäkelä makes his first appearance with New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Wiener Symphoniker and returns to the USA to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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 at the Verbier Festival, as well as with members of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.