Mariss Jansons, one of the world’s greatest orchestral conductors, was born in Riga in January 1943, in a musician’s family. His father Arvīds Jansons was a talented and renowned conductor and his mother a singer. In 1956 the Jansons family moved to Leningrad where Mariss started his studies in the conducting class of the Conservatoire, simultaneously studying violin and piano. Later he continued his studies of orchestral conducting at the Vienna Academy of Music under Hans Swarowsky and soon became Herbert von Karajan’s associate conductor in Salzburg.

In 1971 the young and talented musician became the winner of the von Karajan Foundation’s conductors’ competition in Berlin and in 1972 he followed in his father’s footsteps becoming Yevgeny Mravinsky’s associate conductor at the Leningrad Philharmonic. Working with the great master he acquired valuable experience and excellent foundations for his own professional outlook. In spite of his world-wide success and critical acclaim Mariss Jansons has remained faithful to the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and is a frequent guest conductor there.

In 1979 Mariss Jansons took the post of the Principal Conductor at the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and soon the orchestra became known as one of the best in the world. He has also been the Principal Guest Conductor at the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1992-1997) and the Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphonic Orchestra (1997-2004). Since 2003 he is the Principal Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphonic Orchestra and Choir and in 2004 he assumed the duties of the Principal Conductor of the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (Concert Hall) Symphonic Orchestra. At the same time Mariss Jansons has collaborated with the most outstanding orchestras of the world (the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras being the best known among them) and performed at world’s most famous concert halls in London, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Madrid, Zurich, Brussels, Rome, as well as at the Lucerne and Salzburg Festivals of Music. His guest performances in Japan with the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw Symphonic Orchestra were acknowledged as the best concerts of the season of 2004. Several performances at the Carnegie Hall in New York are scheduled for 2006.

Mariss Jansons has worked with EMI, Chandos, BMG, Sony, Simax and other famous record companies; several of his recordings have been awarded prestigious international prizes: the Edison Award in 1989, the Dutch Luister Award for his recording of Hector Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony, the Penguin Award for the recording of Dvorak’s symphony, the German Recording Critics Award of the Year and the Toblach Composing Cabin Award for the best modern interpretation of Gustav Mahler’s music. Mariss Jansons has also been awarded several international honorary titles: he is the Honorary Member of the Vienna Society of the Friends of Music, the Honorary Member of the London Royal Academy of Music and for faithful service to the Oslo Philharmonic he has been appointed the Commander with Star of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, the highest distinction conferred on foreign nationals by the Norwegian state. In 1996 he was awarded the EMI Artist of the Year Award. In 2003 the Berlin Philharmonic decorated him with the Hans Bulow Medal. In May 2004 he was proclaimed the Conductor of the Year by the London Philharmonic and in 2005 awarded the MIDEM Artist of the Year title and won  the prestigious Grammy Music Award in the Best Orchestral Performance category for the recording of the Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphony No.13 with the Bavarian Radio Symphonic Orchestra and Choir. The album was also nominated in the category of Best Classical Recording.

May 2006 in the Senate Hall of Latvian Academy of Music, named after Jāzeps Vītols, Mariss Jansons received the dipoma of honorary professor of the Academy.

Considering the enormous contribution of Mariss Jansons in the promotion of the name of Latvia in the world and his outstanding artistic success, May 2006 by the decision of Parliament the citizenship of the Republic of Latvia to Mariss Jansons, who until now had the passport of Federation of Russia, was granted.

June 16 of 2006 in Vienna Mariss Jansos as the chief-conductor of Bawarian Radio Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Netherlands received the platinum disc by the recording company Deutschen Grammophon for the most sold CD - the recording of  New Year's concert with Vienna Philarmonics in Austria  2006. In the meantime the conductor received the Golden Disc for the DVD record of the same concert.