Persons

Mariss Jansons

ConductorChief conductor of the Chor and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Biography

Mariss Jansons is considered one of the most outstanding podium personalities of our time. Born in 1943 in Riga as the son of the conductor Arvīds Jansons, he completed his musical education (at the Leningrad Conservatory and passed with distinction. Afterwards he studied in Vienna under Hans Swarowsky and in Salzburg under Herbert von Karajan.
1971 Evgeny Mravinsky made him his assistant with the Leningrad Philharmonic, today’s St. Petersburg Philharmonic. He remained closely connected with this orchestra as a regular conductor until 1999.

From 1979 to 2000 Mariss Jansons set standards as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, which he formed into a top international orchestra. In addition he was Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1992-1997) and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1997-2004).

Since 2003, Mariss Jansons has been the Chief Conductor of the Symphonieorchester and Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BRSO) with which he succeeded to create an atmosphere of the highest artistic standards and a close emotional ties. From 2004 to 2015 he also assumed the post of Chief Conductor of the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam. Among other orchestras he also works regularly with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. In 2016 he conducted the world famous New Year’s Concert in Vienna for the third time.

Mariss Jansons has made guest appearances with the BRSO and the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest in virtually every musical capital and festival city in the world. The first joined tour with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks to China and Japan took place in autumn of 2005. The concerts were hailed by the Japanese press, with the accolade of “Best Concerts of the Season”. In 2012 the society of Japanese music journalists announced the cycle of all Beethoven Symphonies he performed with the BRSO to be the best concerts by foreign musicians in Japan that year.

The BRSO and Mariss Jansons make regular appearances as Orchestra in Residence at the Easter Festival in Lucerne.

To collaborate and work with young musicians has a special significance for Mariss Jansons. He has conducted the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra on a European Tour  and has given regular concerts with various Bavarian youth orchestras and with the Academy of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich.

The numerous CD and DVD recordings which Mariss Jansons has made up to today with both the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest and the Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks document his wide-ranging repertoire. These releases gained many important international prizes, among them a GRAMMY for the “Best Orchestral Perfomance” for the recording of Shostakovitch’s complete symphonies.

Among many other merits Mariss Jansons was honored as the “Conductor of the Year” in 2007 with  the ECHO Klassik and 2011 by “Opernwelt” magazine. The Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Jansons’s baton won the “Orchestra of the Year” award at ECHO-Klassik 2010 for their recording of Bruckner’s 7th Symphony.

One of the world’s most important and renown music awards he received in 2013: The “Ernst-von-Siemens-Musikpreis”.

Mariss Jansons’ list of the entire accolades is long and mirrors his achievements for culture and art.

Among these he was awarded the Norwegian “Royal Order of Merit”, the Austrian “Cross of Honor for Scholarship and Art”, the “Three Stars” Medal of the Republic of Latvia and he received the Bavarian “Order of Maximilian”. In 2013 he was awarded the German “Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class”, was made a “Knight of the Lion of the Netherlands” and appointed “Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres”, the highest cultural award of the French Republic. In March 2018 Maestro Jansons was awarded the highest music award in Denmarkthe - Léonie Sonning Music Prize.

For his life achievement Mariss Jansons was honored in March 2015 with the “Latvian Great Music Award” which is the country’s most important artistic recognition. November 2017 he became the 104th award winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Golden Medal - one of the most prestigious awards in the world of music. To express their gratitude for their long association the Berliner Philharmoniker conferred the Honorary Membership on Mariss Jansons in January 2018.

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