28-year-old conductor Klaus Mäkelä will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Klaus Mäkelä has a lot on his plate — or more accurately, podium. With leading roles conducting orchestras in Oslo, Paris and Amsterdam, he's been called the fastest-rising maestro of his generation. On Tuesday, the young Finnish conductor was announced as the next music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

He's 28 years old.

When he officially takes over the CSO in the fall of 2027, he will become the youngest music director in the ensemble's 133-year history.

In 2020, the Oslo Philharmonic offered Mäkelä the position of chief conductor after only a single visit leading the orchestra. In Amsterdam, where Mäkelä also takes over in 2027, a violinist for the revered Concertgebouw Orchestra told The New York Times that "after three minutes, it was very clear we were dealing with the most precocious conducting talent we've seen in the past 50 or 75 years."

Mäkelä first conducted the Chicago musicians in 2022 and returned a year later. CSO bassoonist