Orchestre de Paris / Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
“ … Klaus Mäkelä triumphs as a Richard Strauss conductor with Die Frau ohne Schatten … leading the superbly prepared Orchestre de Paris from a lyrical opening into a richly colored orchestral splendor, producing magnificent waves of sound.”
Krönen Zeitung, Stefan Musil, 5 July 2026
“This “Frau” is a triumph … a miraculous alignment of talent and committed vision.“
New York Times, Joshua Barone, 5 July 2026
“Klaus Mäkelä has only conducted one opera before; this is his first new production, an extraordinary risk for Aix … Even so, his ability to manage the demands of this sprawling score is impressive … there is never a moment when he does not listen, and his ability to keep the piece moving forward is remarkable.”
Financial Times, Shirley Apthorp, 6 July 2026
“The production’s stripped-back staging is matched by the transparency of Klaus Mäkelä’s conducting, making it hard to believe that this is his first-ever Strauss opera … Yet what he achieves is nothing short of masterful. Leading an orchestra that is neither an opera ensemble nor had ever performed this work before, Mäkelä delivers a remarkable interpretation. The balance between pit and stage comes close to ideal …”
Le Figaro, Christian Merlin, 7 July 2026
“It was one of those rare, unforgettable evenings that enters the memory even as it unfolds. Nothing surpasses opera when all the planets in its galaxy align—and on Friday, July 3, they most certainly did … The guiding word of the entire evening is simple: love.”
Le Monde, Marie Aude Roux, 5 July 2026
“… From the pit, Mäkelä transformed the Orchestre de Paris into what sounded like the finest of German Strauss orchestras … Where Kosky navigated between the worlds of spirits and humans, Mäkelä constantly shifted between overwhelming orchestral grandeur and moments of extraordinary delicacy … The young Finn now joins the distinguished lineage of the opera’s greatest champions, including Karl Böhm and Georg Solti.”
El Pais, Luis Gago, 6 July 2026
“… The result was a tremendous triumph … a breathtaking three-and-a-half-hour performance, masterfully shaped from beginning to end, encompassing everything from intimate, chamber-like expressions of human longing to nightmarish orchestral passages that seem to tear tonality apart.”
