Klaus Mäkelä, a stunning young conductor for whom "music is never off"
Portrait At the helm of the Orchestre de Paris since 2021, this Finn with obvious charisma, not yet thirty, has succeeded in imposing a stripped-down and luminous style. He is now among the best conductors of his generation.
Klaus Mäkelä, Finnish conductor and cellist, photographed at the Philharmonie de Paris on June 4, 2025. MATHIEU ZAZZO FOR "LE NOUVEL OBS"
To go further
And suddenly, a strange feeling grips the journalist: that of finding himself in the holy of holies of French classical music, the dressing rooms of the Philharmonie de Paris, watching himself interview Klaus Mäkelä, a conductor the whole world is fighting over, and yet, having the feeling of meeting one of those international athletes who spend their lives in airports. It's true that his 1.85 meters, his Platonic shoulders, and his calamitous, radiantly blond hair give him the healthy appearance of a tennis player. In fact, Mäkelä is receiving us as he finishes a recording with the Orchestre de Paris, of which he has been music director since 2021 – they are recording Rachmaninov concertos together for Decca – but the 29-year-old conductor, born in Helsinki, gives the impression of having just come from a training session for Flushing Meadows where he has chained together a series of forehands and backhands. He says it spontaneously: "An orchestra is a team sport, but it needs very powerful individual players."
However, there is nothing sporty, forced, or mechanical in the conduct of Klaus Mäkelä (incidentally, it is simply pronounced "Makéla"). If the very young man experienced, a few years ago, a dazzling appointment at the head of two important formations, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Or…
Article reserved for subscribers.
Log inSummer offer: €1/month for 6 months
Le Nouvel Observateur
