He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony and Artistic Director of the Turku Music Festival. An exclusive Decca Classics Artist, Klaus Mäkelä has recorded the complete Sibelius Symphony cycle with the Oslo Philharmonic as his first project for the label, to be released in 2022.

Klaus Mäkelä launches the Oslo Philharmonic 2021/22 season on 18 August with a special concert featuring Bartok Divertimento, Liszt Piano Concerto No.1 with soloist Yuja Wang, two new works by Norwegian composer Mette Henriette and Sibelius Lemminkäinen. A similarly wide range of repertoire is presented throughout his second season in Oslo, including major choral works by Bach, Mozart and William Walton, Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich Symphonies Nos. 10 and 14 with soloists Mika Kares and Asmik Grigorian. Recent and new works include compositions by Sally Beamish, Unsuk Chin, Jimmy Lopez, Andrew Norman and Kaija Saariaho. In Spring 2022 Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic perform the complete Sibelius Symphony cycle at the Wiener Konzerthaus and Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and tour to France and the UK.

With Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä tours to the summer festivals of Granada and Aix en Provence. For his first concert in the 2021/ 22 season he conducts a new work by Unsuk Chin entitled Spira, Richard Strauss’ Four Songs Op 27 with soloist Lise Davidsen and Mahler Symphony No. 1. His second season as Music Director designate also features the music of Messiaen, Ligeti and Dutilleux alongside Biber, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky.

In the 2021/22 season Klaus Mäkelä appears as a Portrait Artist at the Wiener Konzerthaus conducting the Wiener Symphoniker and Oslo Philharmonic and playing cello in chamber music. He also guest conducts the Cleveland Orchestra and Münchner Philharmoniker and has received invitations from numerous leading orchestras in Europe, Japan and the USA still to be announced.