For Guy’s friends who fear that classical music (for him) means just opera, here’s another perspective:
We’re hearing lots about conductors these days, and while I would be the last person to slight Bradley Cooper’s brilliant Maestro (I loved it), I’m also happy to invite readers and friends to learn about a young man who seems to be moving classical music into a totally new realm these days.
Klaus Mäkelä turned 28 just a few weeks ago, and he seems to have caught the attention of almost every editor and critic I read as I look through my music reading list. It’s not surprising that he’s so talented, for he comes from a music background. He was born in Helsinki into a family of musicians, and Wikipedia tells us that his father is cellist Sami Mäkelä, his mother the pianist Taru Myöhänen-Mäkelä, and there’s more: His grandfather, Tapio Myöhänen, is a violinist and violist, and his younger sister Ellen Mäkelä is a dancer with the Ballets de Catalunya. So he seems to have found himself directed toward a music career at a very young age. In a way, we might think, perhaps similar to the early life of our almost equally special Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Met, although Mäkelä has not yet—to my knowledge—ventured into opera (hopefully that time will come).
When we review what he’s accomplished so far (and with more success on the way), he’s our kind of conductor. So far, he has held the position of Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic since 2020 and Music Director of Orchestre de Paris since 2021. As Artistic Partner to the Concertgebouworkest since 2022 he will assume the title of Chief Conductor in 2027, and it makes me happy to see him photographed in that great hall.
Sadly, he won’t be conducting there when Andrew and I are in Amsterdam in May. He will have the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on tour throughout Europe at just that time (just as he is now touring America conducting several of our orchestras on his own spring tour).
Photo: Marco Borggreve_Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
I’ve become a big fan, and for me the musical experiences are sometimes a little overwhelming, with a good example being his work with the Orchestre de Paris. In 2022, when Mäkelä conducted the Mahler Symphony # 2 “Resurrection,” in C Minor (yes, the same piece of music—long one of my favorites—from which the six-minute finale serves as the musical conclusion for Maestro). This performance was preceded by the delicately gentle 12-minute world premier of Betsy Jonas’s “Latest,” and the two works on the same program provide a musical experience I’ve not been able to forget. But truth to tell, I’ve not tried to forget it, since I’ve watched the streamed version several times.
I didn’t get to Klaus Mäkelä’s program at Carnegie Hall on the 16th of March, but I was able to watch and listen online. He was conducting the Orchestre de Paris for “Firebird” and “The Rite of Spring.” I’m sorry I couldn’t be there but if the streamed recording is any indication, it was terrific. What Mäkelä does with Stravinsky is almost as rewarding as his work with Mahler. With these two Stravinsky masterpieces, we get to see subtleties that we often don’t pay much attention to. Only one example is necessary: just watch what he does with his hands as the first piece begins, with its almost “music-with-silence” section. It’s a lesson in how much strength there can be in such little movement.
And don’t worry. The “big” gestures—so necessary for conducting—are there as well as the “soft” moments. There’s no question: it’s fun to watch him conduct (and to listen to what he’s conducting) and, of course, to hear the result of that conducting.
And if you don’t subscribe to Medici.tv (it’s a commercial music streaming site and I think it’s one of the best (for opera alone it’s the MET’s Opera on Demand for me), there are plenty of other performances in which Mäkelä’s conducting gives the listener a good understanding of just how good the man is as a conductor. Search his name in YouTube and you’ll find plenty of segments of good music to listen to. And to watch.
But try to get to Medici.tv and have a look at what he does.
And if you’re more in the mood to learn about how Mäkelä works, as well as some of what he thinks about, take a look at two recent videos. One is a filmed podcast from the very fine Musicmakers series which, in itself, is becoming a prime place to go to learn what’s happening in classical music these days.
James Jolly is the host, and I was delighted to hear his filmed interview with Mäkelä. And to assure his viewers of his seriousness, Jolly begins by referring to himself: “A real music maker,” he begins, “I’m looking forward to finding out what drives Mäkelä. What inspires him?” And he provides the answers in the curiously fascinating (and most satisfactory) next hour.
Take a look. It’s just the type of things we want to hear to keep ourselves up to date in today’s “new” music world.
The second video—and for me equally satisfactory—is Klaus Mäkelä, Towards the Flame by Bruno Monsaingeon, the long-standing French filmmaker, writer, and violinist. In this fine interview, Monsaingeon supports Mäkelä as he shares some of his ideas about music and today’s classical music scene, and, in particular, how conductors can—if they choose—have a very special relationship with the musicians they are conducting. Mäkelä’s talents range wide, and I’ve been very impressed with this video in which, being interviewed, he gives us a good look at what some of our up-and-coming conductors are going to be like.
First of all, he is not only a conductor but he himself plays and takes great pleasure in his performances. In Monsaingeon’s film, as Mäkelä plays with The Arod Quartet, we have a few lovely scenes of his talent with the cello.
A second strength, it seems to me, is Mäkelä’s willingness to not simply lead his players (when he is conducting) but to work with them. It’s an approach that reminds me of my management consulting days, when I was providing hints to management types about how they could “connect” better with their employees. And I find Mäkelä’s approach very similar to what I was proposing in a different context, to continually, as he puts it, be “working with people.” He’s very strong on being sensitive to his musicians, the people he is working with, and the result is that when he is listening to them, they in turn listen to him and take seriously the directions he gives when he conducts.
So get to know Klaus Mäkelä and what he does. You’ll have a good time.
If you have any thoughts or comments, let me hear from you.
My email address is guy10pa@icloud.com.
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