Klaus Mäkelä: Wunderkind Conductor Career Timeline (so far)

Klaus Mäkelä, CSO music director designate, is just 28 and is one of the world’s most respected conductors. Here’s his career in a timeline.

Mäkelä Conducts López Bellido & Mahler 5

Klaus Mäkelä returns to the CSO podium to lead Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The program includes Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela, and a premiere performance of Aino by López Bellido, which the CSO’s co-commissioned. The opening of the broadcast is Corigliano’s Tournaments Overture under Sir Georg Solti’s baton.

CSO MusicNOW & Curator-Composers Announced for ’24–25

Two composers with strong Chicago ties…

Mäkelä Conducts López Bellido & Mahler 5

CSO music director-designate Klaus Mäkelä returns to the Symphony Center podium.

CSO Names Klaus Mäkelä as Music Director

The new music director designate is just 28 years old. He’ll be the youngest in orchestra history when he takes the baton.

CSO Announces 2024–25 Season and New Artist-In-Residence

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has announced its 2024–2025 season, a full year of concerts in its mainstage subscription series, as well as chamber, solo, family, and other programming.

Yuja Wang and the Oslo Philharmonic perform Ravel Piano Concertos

Pianist Yuja Wang joins the Oslo Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor Klaus Mäkelä for a program of 20th-century masterpieces by Ravel and Shostakovich.

Mäkelä Conducts The Firebird

Klaus Mäkelä makes his CSO debut in Stravinsky’s The Firebird.

Yuja Wang plays Rachmaninoff

Rising-star conductor Klaus Mäkelä also reads works by Jimmy López Bellido and William Walton in a program that features renowned American baritone Thomas Hampson.

CSO 2023-24 Season Announced: Myriad Guest Conductors as Muti Era Closes

The season will be the first following the departure of Riccardo Muti as music director. But the maestro will be close at hand as he continues his association with the CSO.

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Mozart’s “Great” Mass in C Minor

The imaginative conductor, still in his twenties, leads the Oslo Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra in an unfinished masterpiece by Mozart.

Klaus Mäkelä To Head Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra

Klaus Mäkelä, a 26-year-old Finnish conductor, will become chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam for the 2027-28 season as part of a 10-year commitment.