The Well-Tempered Ear
Klaus Mäkelä, 28, is the new music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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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
Classical music: Prize-winning Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara has died at 87
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By Jacob Stockinger
He was a contemporary composer who wasn’t afraid to change or adapt his compositional style in radically differently ways, and who found a broad public as well as great respect from fellow composers and performers.
He was Einojuhani Rautavaara (below, in a photo from Getty Images), who was considered the most important composer of his country since Jean Sibelius, and he died at 87 this past week.
Here is a fine summary and obituary by Tom Huizenga for the Deceptive Cadence blog on NPR or National Public Radio.
And here, in the YouTube video below, is the piece, complete with recorded bird songs recorded by the composer — Cantus Arcticus, Op, 61, from 1972 — that Rautavaara is perhaps best known for. It is also the piece that his fellow Finn, conductor Osmo Vanska, now the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, says he most admires.
Tags: Arts, blog, Cantus Arcticus, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, contemporary music, Deceptive Cadence, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finland, Finn, Finnish, Getty Images, Jacob Stockinger, Jean Sibelius, Madison, Minnesota Orchestra, Music, National Public Radio, New Music, NPR, Orchestra, Osmo Vanska, Tom Huizenga, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, YouTube
Classical music: What qualities are needed to be a world-class conductor? New York Times critics weigh in. What do you think?
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By Jacob Stockinger
You may recall that Alan Gilbert (below), the conductor of the New York Philharmonic, surprised the music world when he recently announced he would step down at the end of the 2017 season after only eight seasons on the job.
Speculation about a successor — with Marin Alsop (below top) of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Finnish native Esa-Pekka Salonen (below bottom) former director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, topping the lists — began immediately.
Right now, The Ear leans toward Marin Alsop. It would be great to see a woman in such a high-profile post. It would also be fitting for a protege of Leonard Bernstein to ascend to the podium where American-born and American-trained conductors first made their name. Buy American!
The sensational Venezuelan-born and Venezuelan-trained superstar Gustavo Dudamel (below) seems to have taken himself out of the competition by agreeing to stay longer in LA. But every performer has his or her price, so his story may not yet be over in terms of going to New York.
But Gilbert’s move also raises the issue: What qualities should one look for in a world-class music director and conductor?
These days, it involves a whole lot more than holding the baton and leading the players.
Anyway recently music critics for The New York Times weighed in with their preferences and points of view.
Here is a link to the story:
Read and see what you agree and disagree with.
And also let us know who you think would be a good choice to be the next music director and conductor of the New York Philharmonic.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Alan Gilbert (conductor), Arts, Avery Fisher Hall, Classical music, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finland, Finn, Finnish, Gustavo Dudamel, Jacob Stockinger, Leonard Bernstein, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Marin Alsop, Music director, New York City, New York Philharmonic, New York Times, Orchestra, Simón Bolívar, South America, The New York Times, Venezuela
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