Klaus Mäkelä

Born into a family of musicians in Helsinki, Finland, on January 17th, 1996, Mäkelä studied at the city’s Sibelius Academy before forging a career as both virtuoso cellist and conductor. His ascent to the top of the conducting tree in particular has been nothing short of meteoric, marked by appointments to multiple prestigious Chief Conducting / Musical Director roles before even his thirtieth birthday. Presently Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic and Music Director of the Orchestra de Paris, Mäkelä will commence as Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Musical Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2027.

His first major conducting role came with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2018. Having made just one appearance as guest conductor, Mäkelä was appointed Principal Guest Conductor effective from the start of the 2018 - 2019 season, making him the youngest appointee to a titled conducting role in the orchestra’s history. In the same year he also commenced, what would become a six-year tenure, as Music Director of the Turku Music Festival.

In October, 2018, following another single showing as guest conductor, the Oslo Philharmonic appointed Mäkelä as its next Chief Conductor, on an initial three-season contract to begin in 2020. However, perhaps owing to the conductor’s growing reputation on the international stage, the orchestra took the unusual step of extending Mäkelä’s contract before it had even commenced; he will now conclude his Oslo tenure at the close of the 2025 - 2026 season. Running concurrently with this commitment, Mäkelä has served as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris since 2021.

Alongside his permanent posts, Mäkelä has regularly conducted some of the world’s leading orchestras to widespread critical and audience acclaim. Most notable amongst these is the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - which Mäkelä first conducted as guest in 2020, and was subsequently appointed Artistic Partner for the period 2022 - 2027, at which point he will begin an initial five-year contract as Chief Conductor. Similarly, having conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a couple of occasions in 2022 and 2023, Mäkelä was appointed as the orchestra’s next Music Director, effective from the beginning of the 2027 - 2028 season.

Although now predominantly focused on the podium, he has stated publicly that he remains ‘…a cellist at heart’, a perspective sometimes credited with deepening his connection with orchestra members and enhancing his conducting. One of few conductors to hold an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics, Mäkelä’s discography includes an award-winning cycle of Sibelius’ Symphonies with the Oslo Philharmonic, and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and The Firebird with the Orchestre de Paris. Winner of the Sibelius Prize in 2022, the Opus Klassik Gala Award for Conductor of the Year in 2024, and fresh from two stand-out performances with the Royal Concertgebouw at the BBC Proms, Mäkelä continues to set the standard for this generation of conductors.