Ravinia 2026 Issue 3

His debut made headlines; WTTW noted, “If you were ready to welcome examples of the stellar young talent that will keep classical music thriving, this concert unquestionably did the job.” Stravinsky’s e Firebird, which Mäkelä conducts at Ravinia on Au- gust , was arguably the standout of the evening. Alexander recalled that following re- hearsal of the piece, multiple musicians stopped him in the hallway, telling him “this is the man.” “And of course, by the end of the week, a er the performances and especially with the Stravinsky—it was so beautifully done—we said, ‘Okay, we have to get very serious about Klaus,’ ” Alexander said. “When he came back in February of , we had a search com- mittee meeting scheduled for the week a er Klaus was going to be here.” But then, once again, the rehearsals were magical. “And the rst performance was so special that we moved up the search committee meeting to the Saturday a ernoon, and voted unanimously to o er him the position,” Alexander said. e August program Mäkelä con- ducts at Ravinia harkens back to those earlier CSO days, pairing another two of his favorites, Sibelius and Strauss. For Mäkelä, “I o en think about music as an art collection,” he shared. “When you have a great museum like the Art Institute, or the Louvre in Paris, you have a collection of all the great works, and you can put them together in any order you want. “In a way,” he continued, “here at the Chicago Symphony, we have a collection of written classical pieces, spanning about years. And we put them together in combinations we think are interesting for both us and you.” Klaus Mäkelä acknowledges applause from the audience after making his debut podium appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in February 2022. At the music stand used by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s founding music director, Theodore Thomas (pictured in the portrait), Klaus Mäkelä signs his contract to become the Orchestra’s 11th music director, joined by Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Jeff Alexander, on April 4, 2024. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 3 – AUGUST 16 , 2026 12