Klaus Mäkelä always returns to Mahler, one of his favorite composers: to open the 2026–2027 season, he conducts the monumental Third Symphony.
“With mediocre works, you eventually get bored. [But with] Mahler, there is always something new. He is a composer of great emotional intensity. As a result, his music never sounds the same,” the conductor said in 2025. Klaus Mäkelä enjoys challenging the widespread belief that conductors should wait until they reach a certain age before taking on Mahler’s music, and for several years he has been exploring its many facets with both the Orchestre de Paris and other ensembles. For Mahler, the Third Symphony resolves the tensions of the first two: farewell to “struggle” and “pain”; here comes “joy” (in the composer’s own words). A hymn to nature, the symphony is divided into two parts: a gigantic first movement once titled “Pan Awakens”; then four shorter pieces, some featuring voices, before a magnificent final adagio that evokes ultimate reconciliation. Performers Orchestre de Paris Wiebke Lehmkuhl , mezzo-soprano Chœur de femmes de l'Orchestre de Paris Chœur de jeunes de l'Orchestre de Paris Chœur d’enfants de l’Orchestre de Paris Klaus Mäkelä , conductor Richard Wilberforce , choirmaster Evann Loget-Raymond , choirmaster Edwin Baudo , choirmaster Rémi Aguirre Zubiri , choirmaster
Source: paris.fr — photo: Klaus Mäkelä © Marco Boggreve