Klaus Mäkelä - Overview | Decca Classics

Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä has been Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris since September 2021 and served as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic from 2020 to 2026. He assumes the title of Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in September 2027 and, in the same season, begins his tenure as Zell Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Mäkelä's final season as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris marks the culmination of a seven-year artistic partnership, with programmes centred on large-scale choral and symphonic repertoire, including Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette and Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 8. This season also includes the world premiere of a new work by Thomas Larcher, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Martha Argerich, Renaud Capuçon and Gautier Capuçon, and a gala concert at Philharmonie de Paris featuring Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps, a work that has become a defining thread of his collaboration with the orchestra.

Season highlights with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra include Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Lotta Wennäkoski’s Flounce, and the world premiere of a new work for orchestra by Magnus Lindberg. In December, Mäkelä conducts the Amsterdam Christmas Matinee for the fifth time, and internationally he leads the orchestra on tours to France, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Spain, before returning to the Baden-Baden Easter Festival, for the second installment of the orchestra’s annual residency, where they present three programmes.

With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mäkelä opens the season with a three-week residency at Symphony Center, including performances of Stravinsky’s Petrushka, Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, with soloist Thomas Hampson. In January 2027, he leads the orchestra on its first international tour under his direction, with performances in eight cities across Europe. The season also includes an all-Finnish programme pairing Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 with works by Magnus Lindberg, and concludes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Boulez’s rarely performed Le soleil des eaux.

An exclusive Decca Classics artist, Mäkelä's discography includes recordings of works by Stravinsky, Debussy, Berlioz and Ravel with the Orchestre de Paris, as well as symphonies by Sibelius and Shostakovich with the Oslo Philharmonic. His most recent recording is Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, captured live with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the 2025 Mahler Festival.

In the 2026 ÷ 27 season Mäkelä appears as guest conductor with the Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Münchner Philharmoniker. As a cellist he partners with members of the Orchestre de Paris, Concertgebouw Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra for chamber music performances.