Chicago Symphony Orchestra Announces Klaus Mäkelä as Next Music Director

In Tuesday’s (4/2) Chicago Tribune, Hannah Edgar writes, “On Tuesday, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced its next music director, the Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä. Mäkelä will be the orchestra’s 11th music director, effective in the 2027-28 concert season, following the conclusion of Riccardo Muti’s tenure at the end of the 2022-23 season.… Mäkelä, 28, is the fastest-rising conductor of his generation. At 24, he became the chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, and the music director of Orchestre de Paris at 25.  He will be the youngest music director in the CSO’s history when he assumes the post in 2027.… In the CSO’s news about the appointment, Mäkelä announced he will let his Paris and Oslo contracts expire in 2027. But that same year, he also becomes chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam.… Because of Mäkelä’s exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics, the [CSO] will begin releasing albums under that label for the first time since Sir Georg Solti led the orchestra more than three decades ago.”