Editorial: Chicago got a raw deal
OrchestrasOn paper, it looks like the Chicago Symphony landed one of the hottest maestros on the circuit. He’s late 20s, English speaking, presentable, credible with top orchestras and sought after by several competitors.
But you don’t have to get as far as the small print to see that Klaus Mäkelä is presently music director in Oslo and Paris, and that he’s also music director in waiting at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, all of which he will continue to conduct in the next three years before taking full charge of Chicago.
This is a car crash in the making.
Mäkelä, 28, has a limited repertoire. Although he’s learning fast, the results are not always convincing. Recent recordings for Decca fell way short of the advance hype. He is by no means the finished article, and Chicago players will see quickly through the cracks.
He is also inexperienced at the twists and turns of music management. A few months ago when he was in a relationship with the pianist Yuja Wang he signed her up for concerts together over the next four years. Now she’s pulling out and he can’t handle it. Instead of finding someone he knew to play Bartok’s second concerto instead of Yuja this week, he replaced the piano with a cello concerto. Not a good look.
Chicago is a high-powered orchestra that plays to win. It will not tolerate a jet-lagged youngster who learned a Copland symphony on the drive in from O’Hare. Mäkelä will have to be on time and on top form, all of the time.
That’s a lot to ask of a sensitive Finn with little knowledge of the world beyond northern Europe. By the time he arrives as full-blown music director in 2027, he will be 31, probably married and – after hopping 4 orchestras – more than a bit stale.
The odds are stacked heavily against this uneven appointment.
main photo taken this week in New York by Mathias Benguigui, issued by the Orchestre de Paris
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