10,000 limited-edition stamps bearing a design by the Latvian artist Lilija Dinere have been released
The postal service of Latvia has released a new postage stamp featuring the legendary Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons, who died in 2019.
The stamp, which carries a value of €2.54, will be accompanied by a limited-edition Jansons envelope — with 10,000 stamps and 500 envelopes being made available to the public. Both items were designed by the well-known Latvian painter Lilija Dinere, and were released for purchase on July 28, 2025.
Born in Riga in 1943, Jansons studied in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky and in Salzburg with Herbert von Karajan. He served as the assistant to Evgeny Mravinsky at the Leningrad Philharmonic, and was a prize winner at the conducting competition of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation in Berlin.
Between 1979 and 2000, Jansons was Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, during which time he greatly improved the orchestra’s international reputation. Alongside this, he served as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1992‑1997) and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1997‑2004).
In 2003, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, as the successor to Lorin Maazel. He undertook extensive international tours with these ensembles, performing at venues in New York, London, Tokyo, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Zurich, and Brussels — and regularly serving as the Orchestra in Residence at the Easter Festival in Lucerne.
Jansons has sustained long-term collaborations with the world’s top orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Staatskapelle Dresden.