Mariss Jansons rehearses Beethoven's Eroica

The Latvian conductor, Mariss Jansons, was born while Riga was under military occupation by the Germans who seized it in 1941, a year after its forcible annexation by the U.S.S.R. His father was Arvīd Jansons (or Yansons) (1914-1984), the leading Latvian conductor to emerge under the Soviet system after the Baltic nation was retaken by the U.S.S.R. in 1945. His mother, the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish, gave birth to him in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after her father and brother were killed in the Riga ghetto. As a child, he first studied violin with his father. In 1946, his father won 2nd prize in a national competition and was chosen by Yevgeny Mravinsky to be his assistant at the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. When his family joined him in 1956, young Jansons entered the Leningrad Conservatory, where he studied piano and conducting (where he graduated with honors), although his father urged him to continue playing violin. In 1969 he continued his training in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky and Karl Österreicher, and in Salzburg with Herbert von Karajan. In 1971, he was a prize-winner at the International Herbert von Karajan Foundation Competition in Berlin. H.v. Karajan had invited Jansons to be his assistant with the Berliner Philharmoniker, but the Soviet authorities blocked Jansons from ever hearing about the offer.
In 1973, Yevgeny Mravinsky, then Music Director of Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra (now St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra), invited Mariss Jansons to assist him as Associate Conductor. In 1985 he was promoted to principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under music director Yuri Temirkanov. During his tenure there, he conducted the Orchestra on many of its successful tours to Europe, America and Japan. In 1979, Jansons was appointed Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he performed, recorded and toured extensively. Under his leadership it came to international attention as one of the finest and most exciting of major world orchestras. He brought the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra on tours to all of the major European, American and Japanese music centers. Jansons resigned his Oslo position in 2000 after disputes with the city over the acoustics of the Oslo Konserthus. In 1992, Jansons was named principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He worked as a guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra and recorded Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6 with them for the LSO Live label. In 1997, Jansons became the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. His initial contract was for three years, but his subsequent contract renewals were evergreen contracts that required yearly renewal. His relationship with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra was widely hailed both nationally and internationally as one of the most successful partnerships in the orchestral world today. During his tenure as music director, led the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall each season and on tours of Japan (five-city, seven-concert tour in 1998), west coast USA cities and an international tour (1999), South America (2001), the Far East (2002) and Europe (1999, 2000, and 2003), all to exceptional acclaim. In June 2002, he announced that he would leave the orchestra in 2004.
In April 1996 in Oslo, Mariss Jansons nearly died while conducting the final pages of La Bohème, after a heart attack. He recuperated in Switzerland. Later, surgeons in Pittsburgh fitted a defibrillator in his chest to give his heart an electric jolt if it fails. (Jansons's father died at a 1984 concert, conducting the Hallé Orchestra.) Jansons stated that he suffers from jet lag, and this was one reason that he left his American position. At the start of the 2003-2004 season, Jansons began his tenure as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO), for an initial contract of 3 years. His commitment with the BRSO is for 10 weeks per season. In October 2002, Jansons was named the sixth chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, effective September 1, 2004, succeeding Riccardo Chailly. His initial Amsterdam contract was for 3 years, and his commitment in Amsterdam is for 12 weeks per season.
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