Мaris Jansons was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1943 into the family of the renowned conductor Arvid Jansons.

He studied violin, viola and piano and completed his musical education in conducting with high honours at the Leningrad Conservatoire. Further studies included tuition under Hans Swarovsky in Vienna and Herbert von Karajan in Salzburg. In 1972 Eugenie Mravinsky engaged Maris Jansons as his assistant at the Leningrad Philharmonic.

Over the succeeding years, Maris Jansons remained loyal to this orchestra and held the post of the regular conductor until 1999. Besides his conducting assignments, Maris Jansons has also served as professor of conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire from 1971 to 2000.

From 1979 to 2000, Maris Jansons set standards as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic. Besides this he was Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1992–1997) and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1997–2004). He has successfully collaborated with every major orchestra in the world: the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. At the moment Maris Jansons is the principal conductor of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra.

Maris Jansons has received a large number of international prizes and honours. He is an Honorary Member of the Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna as well as an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London, recipient of Honorary Doctorates from the Music Academies in Oslo and Riga, Honorary People’s Artist of Russia, “Conductor of the Year” (2004, 2006, 2007).