It is no secret that the Lucerne Festival is trying to secure Klaus Mäkelä as its next music director.
Mäkelä has four other jobs.
Nothing was signed last summer.
Today, the new Lucerne director Sebastian Nordmann renewed Riccardo Chailly, 72, for two more years, to the end of 2028.
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Doesn’t Makela deserve all the jobs?
Why shouldn’t he be the first Generalmusikdirektor of All Classical Music?
After Vikingur Olafsson’s here disclosed news, at least something to cheer me up!
Well, by then Makela will have only 2 jobs. How many weeks work is this?
It’s astonishing to me that Klaus Mäkelä, at just 29, is being handed so many of the world’s top posts when—setting aside the polished image and solid technique—the recordings themselves, once you stop watching the video, reveal a musical voice that still feels decades away from the depth and life experience such roles usually demand. Will he become a “great conductor?” Maybe– in 40 years. But there are far better candidates for for MD in Lucerne, as there were in Chicago and Amsterdam.
Most conductors peak in their 40s and 50s; well before they reach the age of 69. When they are old they become slower and more idiosyncratic. The best still have something to say.
Chailly doesn’t look 72. Nor does he look like that. Nor does he have a good ear for color and balance. Does anyone anymore?