June 2021
For his MCO debut, rising star Klaus Mäkelä conducts Sibelius and Grieg at the 70th edition of the Festival de Granada.
After Mäkelä brings us into the sound world of his home country of Finland with Sibelius' tone poem The Swan of Tuonela, we move across the region to Norway. Javier Perianes joins for his MCO debut as the soloist in Grieg's popular piano concerto. The sixth and seventh symphonies of Sibelius end the programme, by
showing us the composer's unique feeling for harmony and form. Quietly
revolutionary, these two works form a bridge between romantic expression
and modernist innovation, shot through with a glimmering tonality that
evokes the special quality of Nordic light.
Klaus Mäkelä is fast becoming one of the most promising young stars in classical music. At only 25, he is already the Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic, and follows Daniel Harding (the MCO's Conductor Laureate) as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris from 2022. He will be Conductor in Residence at the 70th edition of the Festival de Granada, where the MCO last performed in 2019 with Isabelle Faust and Pablo Heras-Casado.
