“Listening is the most beautiful thing music can teach us.”
The audience listened attentively to every soft-spoken word shared by Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä at the cello masterclass on Wednesday, February 18. Sponsored by the Negaunee Music Institute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association in partnership with Merit School of Music, Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative (CMPI), and Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO), the event at Merit’s Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall was a celebration of Chicago’s vibrant music education space and its intersection with the great cultural institutions of our city. Throughout this inspiring masterclass, Maestro Mäkelä shared insights with an infectious joy that filled the hall and everyone in it.
Maestro Mäkelä was charming, engaging, and authentic, setting the performers and audience alike at ease with his casual and thoughtful conversational style. Despite his fame and early success, he was humble and utterly relatable. He sat on the edge of the stage with his legs crossed under him as he cracked jokes and shared funny anecdotes all while imparting profound artistic feedback to the young musicians.
The three cellists who performed each represented one of the partner organizations: Analia Arias (Merit), Ezrael Lukman (CMPI), and Vivian Hirschl (CYSO). In working with each student, Maestro Mäkelä provided invaluable insights
Sixteen-year-old Analia kicked off the masterclass with her performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Elegie. On top of the normal nerves that can surface when playing for a world-class musician like Maestro Mäkelä, Analia faced another challenge: it was her very first time playing in a masterclass. No pressure!
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Analia admits. “I was thinking it was going to be really stressful, but I was honestly a lot calmer than I thought I’d be.” Maestro Mäkelä’s open and approachable manner was pivotal in putting her at ease and making the experience so impactful. “He is very nice, and he gets his points across in a very respectful way. I enjoyed working with him so much.”
Maestro Mäkelä encouraged the students to have more fun with certain passages and to let the music’s joy and life come through. One of the ways he suggested doing this is to step back from concentrating on the minutiae of what the students are doing with their own instrument to listen to the greater whole. “It’s all about taking distance from what you yourself are doing,” he said. “You learn so much from listening.” He touched on the importance of playing with other musicians in orchestras and chamber ensembles to develop this skill. He also applied this idea to performing solo works, encouraging the students to visualize placing their ears to the back of the hall to inform the phrasing and musicality.
The evening concluded with a Q&A session with the audience. Maestro Mäkelä answered questions both professional and personal, ranging from when he realized he wanted to be a conductor (at age seven, “but of course, when you’re seven, it’s not the time,” he joked) to some of his favorite things about Chicago (the architecture boat tour, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the steak).
As the evening drew to a close, what lingered was not only the insight shared, but the spirit in which it was offered. Throughout the masterclass, Maestro Mäkelä brought the joy in music to the surface. He invited the students to step back, to trust their ears, and to rediscover the pleasure of shaping a phrase and sharing it with others. We are deeply grateful to Maestro Mäkelä for spending his evening with our students and community, and for sharing his time, wisdom, and unmistakable enthusiasm.
