News of Norway, issue 2, 1997
Mr. Jansons, who is also Associate Principal Conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is recognized as one of the most distinguished musicians of his generation. Born in Riga, Latvia in 1943, he has become known to audiences worldwide through his acclaimed recordings, concert performances and prolific touring, as well as his numerous radio and television appearances. As its music director since 1979, Mr. Jansons has led the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in all of the major music centers of Europe, America and Japan, including the Salzburg Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the BBC Proms, London’s Barbican Center and Royal Festival Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Under his leadership, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra has developed an outstanding international reputation and produced a number of highly praised recordings, including a Tchaikovsky cycle, which was released on the Chandos label and featured in the BBC Wales television series "Jansons Conducts."
"The Oslo Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons are a combination that has captured the world’s imagination. . . .Their music flows from the heart to the heart." -David Foster, Vice President, Columbia Artists Management, Inc., New York
In 1979 Jansons took over from Okko Kamu as Artistic Director of the Oslo Philharmonic. What sort of Orchestra had he inherited in those early years? "Well," Jansons recalls, "It was a small outfit, only 79 players [today 106], and I really wasn’t thinking in terms of creating a great international orchestra. But once we started to work together, I realized that we really had something going for us. I think we all thought, here is a great possibility." What Jansons was struck by was the orchestra's willingness to work hard and its capacity to show real enthusiasm for the music it played. -From "Mariss Jansons," an article by Ashutosh Khandekar on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Oslo Philharmonic.