Welcome Klaus Mäkelä!

'Hearing the Concertgebouw Orchestra sound once leaves one admiring it forever and I am honoured to be responsible to preserve and contribute to its future development.'
- Klaus Mäkelä

As previously announced by the Concertgebouw Orchestra on 10 June, Klaus Mäkelä is joining us as Artistic Partner, and is to become Chief Conductor in 2027. ‘As a conductor, most of my focus is on sound, and when you’ve heard the sound of this orchestra one time, it leaves an unforgettable impression,’ Klaus Mäkelä told the media at the press conference in the Recital Hall. ‘I look forward to cherishing this tradition and adding new details.’

Now the collaborative adventure has begun. On 28 and 31 August the orchestra is going on tour with the Finnish conductor and will play Saariaho’s Orion and Mahler’s Sixth in Berlin and Cologne, respectively. Later in the season the freshly minted Artistic Partner will lead four more programmes.

Klaus Mäkelä in conversation with Dominic Seldis

The eighth Chief Conductor

Starting in season 2023/2024 the number of weeks playing together will slowly build up to at least twelve when he takes on the role of the eighth Chief Conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2027. Until then Klaus Mäkelä remains faithful to the Orchestre de Paris and the Oslo Philharmonic.

Tradition of long-term collaborations

Klaus Mäkelä made his first appearance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in September 2020 and it was clear from the start that it was a perfect match. His outstanding debut prompted the orchestra to invite him back twice within the same season, and twice in the current season including on tour to Hamburg and Reykjavík, each occasion re-confirming the musicians’ united wish to engage Klaus Mäkelä as their next Chief Conductor.

'Rarely have we experienced such an overwhelming support from our musicians for a new chief conductor.' 
- Jörgen van Rijen:
solotrombonist, voorzitter van de Artistieke Commissie

The Concertgebouw Orchestra has an established tradition of long-term collaborations with conductors, including Willem Mengelberg, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly, from early on in their careers. By appointing Klaus Mäkelä Artistic Partner for five seasons before he takes up the position of Chief Conductor, the orchestra looks forward to embarking on a new journey that promises many years of artistic excellence and new discoveries.

Under the direction of Klaus Mäkelä

Watch an excerpt from the finale of Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony 'From the New World' – a performance by the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of Klaus Mäkelä.

Concerts conducted by Klaus Mäkelä

About Klaus Mäkelä 

Klaus Mäkelä is Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of Orchestre de Paris, and Artistic Director of the Turku Music Festival. As a guest conductor he makes his first appearances with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and Gewandhausorchester in the 2022/23 season and returns to the USA to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. An exclusive Decca Classics Artist, Klaus Mäkelä has recorded the complete Sibelius symphony cycle with the Oslo Philharmonic as his first project for the label, released in March 2022.

read the full biography