Mäkelä to lead Sibelius, Beethoven Ninth in CSO’s 2026-27 season
In the final between-two-worlds season before officially becoming music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2027, Klaus Mäkelä will conduct five programs in 2026-27.
Following up on his performances of Lemminkäinen last month, the Finnish conductor will program a pair of symphonies by Jean Sibelius for the first time in Chicago. Mäkelä will lead performances of his compatriot’s Symphony No. 7 on September 24-26 coupled with Shostakovich’s most Mahlerian work, the Symphony No. 4.
He will follow that up with the real thing, Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 9 in performances October 1-4. William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast is the main work on Mäkelä’s program October 8 and 9 with soloist Thomas Hampson and the CSO Chorus. Also on the program are Stravinsky’s Petrushka and two works by Gabrieli in contemporary arrangements.
After his three consecutive autumn weeks, Mäkelä doesn’t return until late spring (May 13-16) when he will direct an all-Finnish program coupling Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 with music of Magnus Lindberg featuring his Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist Lisa Batiashvili and an (as yet untitled) new work by Lindberg commissioned by the CSO. (Lindberg’s Serenades made a strongly favorable impression at its CSO world premiere in 2021.) Mäkelä will close the season June 17-20 with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 prefaced by his Elegy and Pierre Boulez’s Le soleil des eaux.
Riccardo Muti leads three weeks of concerts next season in his current comfort zone of mostly lighter repertoire. The exception is Muti’s December 3-5 program with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 and Strauss’s Oboe Concerto with William Welter as soloist.
The following Muti week brings Cherubini’s Overture in G major and Strauss family waltzes with Yefim Bronfman as soloist in the more substantive centerpiece of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. In April Muti leads an all-Rossini program with the composer’s Stabat Mater and Overture and ballet music from William Tell.
Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the CSO’s artist-in-residence next season. In addition to a chamber concert and Michael Feinstein collaboration he wil perform Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto with the CSO February 10-13.
Lang Lang will perform Beethoven’s complete piano concertos March 24-27.
After a complete absence of Mahler’s music this season, Manfred Honeck will help to fill the void next year in his two CSO weeks, leading the composer’s Symphony No. 1 and songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa. Honeck will also conduct Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 and the world premiere of Mason Bates’ The Escapist Symphony, a CSO commission.
Other conductors next season are Jakub Hrůša, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jaap van Zweden, Paavo Järvi, Mark Elder, Dima Slobodeniouk, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Marek Janowski, Karina Canellakis, Maxim Emelyanychev, Philippe Jordan, Giancarlo Guerrero, Petr Popelka, Masaaki Suzuki, Harry Bicket, James Gaffigan, Jane Glover, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Fabien Gabel and Kazuki Yamada.
Among the season’s other soloists are cellists Yo-Yo Ma, Alisa Weilerstein, and Jian Wang. Pianists are Beatrice Rana, Mao Fujita, Yunchan Lim, Benjamin Grosvenor, and Orion Weiss. Violinists are Hilary Hahn, Vadim Gluzman, Isabelle Faust, Augustin Hadelich, Anne Akiko Meyers, and Randall Goosby.
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2 Responses to “Mäkelä to lead Sibelius, Beethoven Ninth in CSO’s 2026-27 season”
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Posted Mar 05, 2026 at 9:45 am by John
MusicNOW RIP
Posted Mar 05, 2026 at 7:07 pm by tws
An exciting season ahead — Mark Elder conducting Elgar 1 is quietly one of the most thrilling concerts to be announced.