Conductor at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw named conductor of Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The 28-year-old Finnish conductor, Klaus Mäkelä, been appointed the new music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the American orchestra announced this week. Mäkelä will hold this position while also leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, which the Dutch orchestra announced in June 2022.

The Finnish conductor will also remain working with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Oslo, Norway, and the Orchestra of Paris in France until he can begin in both the United States and the Netherlands.

“I am honored to have been chosen as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and inspired to embark on this journey with an orchestra that combines such brilliance, power, and passion,” Mäkelä said.

Mäkelä started as Chief Conductor in Oslo in 2020 and as Music Director in Paris a year later. He will take the position of Chief Conductor in Amsterdam in September 2027. He was the first conductor in more than four decades to be signed to the Decca Classics label.