The Well-Tempered Ear
Klaus Mäkelä, 28, is the new music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
6 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
It seems to The Ear that another young conducting superstar is in the making.
I’m talking about the 28-year-old Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä (below, in a photo by Marco Borggreve), who just yesterday was named the successor to 82-year-old Riccardo Muti as the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, starting in 2027.
Chances are good that the talented, photogenic and charismatic Mäkelä — ignore the umlauts and “ke” is pronounced kay — who has had a meteoric rise will eventually join the company of Gustavo Dudamel and Yannick Nézet-Séguin as an heir to such celebrated conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan, then Claudio Abbado, Michael Tilson Thomas and Marin Alsop.
The Ear would love to post stories from the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Chicago Tribune. But they all hide their online stories behind a paywall.
Here is another story, from ABC-TV in Chicago and the Associated Press, that has all the essentials and some extra background:
In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can see his 2-minute video made specifically to introduce himself on the occasion of his selection to lead the CSO. He talks about what he likes about the world-famous orchestra and why he wanted to accept the permanent position after guest conducting the CSO
And here is an excerpt of Mäkelä conducting the Paris Orchestra in Carnegie aHall last month. His reading of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” — on an all-Stravinsky program with “The Rite of Spring — raised the neck hair on The Ear.
You can under how the young Finn has developed a reputation for both spontaneous energy and sonic clarity.
What do you think of Klaus Mäkelä becoming the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra?
Have you heard him conduct? What did you think?
Would you go to Chicago to hear him conduct?
Will he become a worthy successor to such Chicago luminaries as Muti, Daniel Barenboim, George Solti and Fritz Reiner?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, 2024, 2027, ABC-TV, alerts, Amsterdam, AP, Apple, Apple Music, Apple Music Classical, Arts, Asia, asian, Associated Press, audience, background, Beethoven, Bernard Haitink, Bernstein, Bing, blog, Carnegie Hall, celebrated, Cello, charismatic, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, China, Chinese, choral music, clarity, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, composer, Concert, Concertgebouw, concerto, Conducting, conductor, CSO, Daniel Barenboim, debut, energy, essential, Europe, European, Facebook, Finland, Finn, Finnish, Fritz Reiner, George Solti, global, globe, Google Alert, guest conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, handsome, hear, Herbert von Karajan, Igor Stravinsky, Jacob Stockinger, Karajan, Klaus Makela, Klaus Mäkalä, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Marin Alsop, Mäkelä, medici.tv, meteoric, Michael Tilson Thomas, Microsoft, MTT, Music, Music director, Netherlands, New York Times, Norway, online, opera, Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, OS, Oslo, Paris, Paris Orchestra, performer, photo, photogenic, Piano, program, Riccardo Muti, rise, Rite of Spring, rizz, Safari, Scandinavia, Scandinavian, share, Sonata, spontaneous, story, Stravinsky, successor, superstar, symphony, tag, talented, The Ear, The Firebird, The Well-Tempered Ear, think, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Washington Post, Website, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, worldwide, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, you, young, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Brian Jefferies on Classical music: A major reass… |
 | welltemperedear on What made Beethoven sick and… |
 | rlhess5d5b7e5dff on What made Beethoven sick and… |
| welltemperedear on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
 | Robert Graebner on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 