Klaus Mäkelä

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 and 8.  

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

Since his outstanding debut in September 2020, Mäkelä has returned to the Concertgebouw Orchestra several times each season with a wide variety of programmes. Following highly successful tours of the United States (2024) and East Asia (2025), Mäkelä and the Concertgebouw Orchestra kicked off an annual residency at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival in 2026. The current season sees extensive tours across Europe, Mäkelä fifth Christmas Matinee, and the orchestra’s Annual Gala, while the season's highlights include Beethoven's Missa solemnis, Mahler's Seventh Symphony, Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and a world premiere by Magnus Lindberg. 

This 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. 

Mäkelä studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula and cello with Marko Ylönen, Timo Hanhinen and Hannu Kiiski.