Klaus Mäkelä to be Chief Conductor of Concertgebouw Orchestra

As Artistic Partner, 26-year-old Finnish-born Klaus Mäkelä will lead the Concertgebouw Orchestra, starting this August with concerts at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Cologne Philharmonie and Berlin Philharmonie — the latter of which will be the opening concert of the Musikfest Berlin. During the 2022/2023 season, Mäkelä will lead the ensemble in five programs.

After making his first performance with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in September 2020, the musicians and administration invited him back on numerous occasions, including in the current season on tour to Hamburg and Reykjavík.

The Concertgebouw Orchestra has established a tradition of long-term collaborations with conductors from early on in their careers — such as Willem Mengelberg, Bernard Haitink, and Riccardo Chailly. As such, Mäkelä will serve as Artistic Partner for five seasons before becoming the Chief Conductor.

"This is an orchestra of exceptional musicians with a shared curiosity and ambition for music-making at its most touching and communicative," Mäkelä said. "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. I am so grateful to the orchestra and its administration for welcoming me with open arms and I look forward to all the shared moments on and off stage in the years to come."

A graduate of the Sibelius Academy, where he studied conducting with Jorma Panula, Mäkelä is the Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic. An exclusive Decca Classics Artist, Mäkelä has recorded the complete Sibelius symphony cycle with the ensemble, released in March 2022.

He also serves as Music Director of Orchestre de Paris and Artistic Director of the Turku Music Festival.

Jörgen van Rijen, Principal trombone and chairman of the artistic committee commented on the appointment: "I speak on behalf of all my fellow orchestra musicians when I say that we wholeheartedly choose for a long-term collaboration with conductor Klaus Mäkelä.

"Rarely have we experienced such an overwhelming support from our musicians for a new chief conductor," he added. "To us, Klaus is a musician amongst musicians, and a once-in-a-generation conducting talent. With his deep understanding and command of a broad range of repertoire and his inspiring artistic vision and energy, Klaus brings out the best in us."