The Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons, born in 1943 in Riga, received his first musical training from his father, the conductor Arvid Jansons. He studied music in Leningrad, continued his education with Hans Swarowsky and Herbert von Karajan and won the Berlin Karajan Competition in 1971. He gained valuable experience as Yevgeny Mrawinsky's assistant with the Leningrad Philharmonic. From 1979 to 2000 he was Principal Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, 1992/93 Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, 1997/98 Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In September 2003 he succeeded Lorin Maazel as conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich. In autumn 2004 he was also appointed principal conductor of the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam; at the end of the 2014/15 season Jansons resigned from this post.

The Subscription Concerts: When Otto Nicolai left Vienna permanently in 1847, the young enterprise of the Vienna Philharmonic almost collapsed, having lost in one person not only its artistic but also its administrative leader. Twelve years of stagnation followed before a new innovation brought about the long-awaited change of fortune. On January 15, 1860, the first of four subscription concerts took place in the Kärntnertortheater under the baton of then opera director Carl Eckert, and since that time, the "Philharmonic Concerts" have been staged without interruption. The only significant change in all those years was to switch from having one conductor for a complete season of subscription concerts to the present system of having various guest conductors within a season.

***

PROGRAM
Robert Schumann
Symphonie No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38, "Spring Symphony"

Hector Berlioz
Symphonie fantastique: “Épisode de la vie d’un Artiste” (“An Episode in the Life of an Artist”), Op. 14