" At the end of the show, this is Klaus Mäkelä, who himself has advanced three steps towards one of my colleagues to go to the thank. She was not a soloist, and was very touched that he took the time to go to his meeting. We feel that it is someone with whom we have relationships. "This anecdote, it is the violinist of the Orchestra of Paris Joëlle Cousin who tells it ; it dates from the earliest days of the chief of finland in the capital in June 2019 and complete the reputation very flattering that precedes the future music director of the Orchestre de Paris : brilliant in the scene and humble to the city. And all this at just 24 years old.
This is another rework of the week, after the departure of Daniel Harding in August 2019, Klaus Mäkelä directs his first concert at the Philharmonic hall this Thursday evening – Ravel and Beethoven in the programme of the second concert (full) in public since march, after the announcement of his appointment to the post of music director of the Orchestre de Paris. The installation of the Finns will be done in two steps, due to short-term commitments of the head, including with the Philharmonic orchestra of Oslo. In a first step, from 1 September to 31 August 2022, it is going to take up the position of musical adviser of the Orchestra of Paris before you fully take on the role of musical director for a term of 5 years. "A good operation ", welcomes the director of the Philharmonie de Paris, Laurent Bayle, in the light of the young and brilliant, but brilliant, career of the Finnish.
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A vocation teenager
Born in 1996 in Helsinki in a family of musicians, Klaus Mäkelä starts by studying the cello, but quickly in the direction of the orchestra. "Since childhood, he sang in the choir of the national Opera of Finland," said Laurent Bayle, it is viewed across the head. He was attracted by the management of the orchestra very soon. "This is going to include learning within the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he joined at 12 years of age, under the rule of the chief Jorma Panula, a well-known teacher and already a "service provider" and a multitude of other talented chefs (Esa-Pekka Salonen and Mikko Franck, for example). "It is difficult to learn the direction of the orchestra alone at home unlike an instrument, it is necessary to be in front of an orchestra and you have a lot of young musicians who do not have this possibility. Klaus Mäkelä is not in this category, it is born in a country music, who offered him very early the opportunity to confront an orchestra. "
He has the maturity of a leader of 30 years
as early As 2017, at the age of 21, the young man made his debut at the wand with the symphonic Orchestra of the Swedish radio, and then starting the season 2018-2019, it is the explosion. He is an associate artist of the Tapiola Sinfonietta, artistic director of the music festival in Turku, made his debut with the Orchestra of Bamberg, the national Orchestra of Lyon, the Orchestra of the Frankfurt radio, plays with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphony Orchestra of the bavarian radio or the symphony Orchestra in Birmingham, and finally for the first time in June 2019 at the Philharmonie with the Orchestra of Paris then in the cast of its new music director. "At 24, he has the maturity of a leader of 30 years," says Laurent Bayle. From 18 to 22 years, he has expanded his repertoire in orchestras more local and, at the age of 22, he started a real international career. I don't have examples of leaders as early as that. "
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"In 15 minutes, it happened something exceptional"
Joelle Cousin has been marked by the first rehearsal in the Philharmonic hall. "I remember it perfectly, it was expected and preceded by a very good reputation. It was instantly magical and natural, as we have seen in the fifteen minutes that it was something exceptional. I remember that I was really galvanized, and I watched my colleagues in the corner of the eye, it was all the same. At the break, already, it was said that there was a craze amazing. "The musician tells the" coup de foudre "between the young man of 24 years and the band :" Personally, but it is also the case of a great majority of my colleagues, I liked, in addition to a musical talent incredible, the natural and the maturity of his relationship with the orchestra. "" This kind of things, it works or it doesn't, it is necessary that both parties feel confident, respected by the other. At the end of the first rehearsal, the returns of the musicians were very, very favourable ", abounds Laurent Bayle. "Three hours in front of musicians who know the piece and that it is not being made, we see very quickly the flaws in the armor. "
on the other side Of Paris, at the headquarters of Radio France, Marc Desmons, first solo viola of the philharmonic Orchestra, has had the opportunity to play under the direction of the head and to the sides of the cellist Klaus Mäkelä. It keeps the memories of rehearsals in the orchestra with the Finnish, " smooth and cordial. "This is someone very bright, very fast, that has a very good ear, a sense of sound and phrasing, and, therefore, a work interesting and enjoyable. It can give a rhythm to the rehearsal, you will not get bored. It is nice and has a good contact. It is one of its major strengths : even though he is young, he seems to have a lot directed. It does not have ten years of experience, but he does so well, is not stretched, and complies with the musicians. It puts them at ease, this is 90 % of the job. "
A seven-year commitment
a dark Suit, blond sage, and glasses rimmed with scales, Klaus Mäkelä, who speaks English, also marked by the precision of his gestures and the brevity of his communication. "Long explanations insupportent an orchestra of such a high level. The orchestra expects of you something personal, but this is not a course at the Collège de France, " says Laurent Bayle. It is necessary that it goes through the motions and that the musicians feel it knows where it wants to go, and that it correctly translates its vision. ""Mäkelä, it is great, his body and his musical intentions are very legible," explains Joëlle Cousin. "We go straight into the music, this is the best way to proceed. At the time of the concert, the words you'll get more. Him, he is come, he opened his score, has lifted the arm and, immediately, it was gone. "In the room for the first concert in paris the chief in June of last year, Laurent Bayle remembers the" precision and efficiency of its movements, and completely successful ". "This is a leader who is in a posture that is modern, that is not ascetic, but in a control line. It has a sense of the drama ; he knows how to give a shape to the work which allows you to keep and the musicians and the public, these are qualities central to a conductor. He has his own vision but not iconoclastic. "
so far, a musician among his peers, or the wand on the podium, it is still his discretion and his ability to listen, which are leased. "Not a chief authoritarian in the former ", with which he is "very simple" to work for Marc Desmons. Joëlle Cousin rented it, its " northern culture ". "It is not at all in the star system, in the culture of the ego. The education of finland is very egalitarian, and it feels a lot. "And the musician concludes :" We could not dream better. This is when even a chef who seduces all the orchestras around the world, the fact that he has chosen to invest with us it is a strong message, that we can bring new proposals to the international. "Directory, educational issues, feminization of classical music, transmission, Klaus Mäkelä will be in any case of what to confirm the expectations placed on him during a marriage that should last for at least seven years.
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