Klaus Mäkelä

Klaus Mäkelä (Helsinki, January 17, 1996) is a Finnish conductor and cellist.

Mäkelä's father is cellist Sami Mäkelä and his mother is pianist Taru Myöhänen-Mäkelä. His grandfather Tapio Myöhänen is a violinist and violist. His younger sister Ellen Mäkelä plays viola and was a dancer with the Finnish National Ballet and now dances with Ballet de Catalunya.
For several musical projects he collaborated with his partner, cellist Senja Rummukainen, who won first prize at the Turku National Cello Competition in 2014, with Mäkelä receiving second prize.


Klaus Mäkelä became interested in conducting at age 12, when he sang in the choir of the Finnish National Opera. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, studying orchestral conducting with Jorma Panula and cello with Marko Ylönen, Timo Hanhinen and Hannu Kiiski. He was principal cellist with Finnish orchestras, such as Sinfonia Lahti, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and Jyväskylä Sinfonia. He performed at Finnish music festivals, such as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and the Naantali Music Festival. His cello from 1698 is by the hand of Milan violin maker Giovanni Grancino (1637-1709).
In September 2017 Mäkelä conducted the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the first time. On the basis of this performance, the orchestra announced his appointment in December 2017 as permanent guest conductor from the 2018-2019 season onwards, with an initial contract of three years.