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Born in hiding
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Mariss Jansons: 10 facts about the great conductor
1. Born in hiding
Mariss Jansons was born while his mother - the singer Iraida Jansons, who was Jewish - was in hiding in Riga, Latvia, after being smuggled out of the Riga Ghetto. As a child, Jansons first studied violin with his father, the conductor Arvīds Jansons who was chosen by Yevgeny Mravinsky to be his assistant at the Leningrad Philharmonic. When his family joined him in 1956, young Mariss entered the Leningrad Conservatory.
