Latvian baritone Valdis Jansons made his opera debut in 2004 under the direction of Antonello Allemandi. He has won many international competitions, including Giuseppe Di Stefano (Trapani, Italy, 2006) and the As.Li.Co (Como, Italy, 2009), Riccardo Zandonai (Riva del Garda, Italy, 2013), Maurizio Quintieri (Cosenza, Italy, 2014). Mr. Jansons has sung 65 roles in more than 80 theaters worldwide, including the Teatro Alla Scala in Berg’s Lulu, directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Daniele Gatti in 2011, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova as Capulet in Romeo et Juliette, directed by Jean Louis Grinda and conducted by Fabio Luisi in 2012, Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, Teatro Regio di Parma; São Carlos Theater in Lisbon, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, Theater an der Wien, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Lincoln Center, NCPA in Beijing. The highlights of his professional engagements include Enrico Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti at Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Il Conte di Luna in Il Trovatore at Teatro São Carlos (Lisbon, Portugal), at San Carlo Theatre in Naples as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana by Orff, at the Monte-Carlo Opéra in Rusalka, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at Carlo Felice Opera House in Genoa, then as Escamillo in Carmen at Theatro Municipal in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) and in Genoa, the protagonist in Don Giovanni at the opening of the 16th International Music and Dance Festival of Bangkok (Thailand). In December 2015, he made his debut as Billy Budd at the Teatro Carlo Felice, and later the same year as Onegin in Eugene Onegin at the Opera Wrocławska (Poland).
In March 2016 he sang Rodrigo in Verdi's Don Carlo at the Lithuanian National Opera, Zurga in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at Opera Wrocławska, Rigoletto, Valentin in Faust, Verdi’s Macbeth, Wolfram in Tannhäuser at Latvian National Opera, Germont in La Traviata at Teatro Marrucino in Chieti, Italy. In 2017 he sang Enrico alongside Ramon Vargas in Lucia di Lammermoor at the National Opera of Bucarest (Romania), has performed Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca in Tours (France), King Roger in Szymanowsky’s homonymous opera in Krakow (Poland), Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus at Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Nello in Pia de’ Tolomei by Donizetti at the theatres of Pisa, Lucca, Livorno as well as in May and June 2018 at Spoleto Festival in Charleston (SC, USA), then Rodrigo in Don Carlo at Opera på Skäret (Sweden), Ping in Turandot in a tournèe in China. In February 2019, he made his debut as Folco in Montemezzi’s L’Incantesimo at Latvian National Opera. From February to March, he appeared at Oper Graz in Austria in Szymanovsky's King Roger, and in April, he appeared as Scarpia in Rabat (Morocco). In August of the same year, Mr. Jansons made his debut as Nabucco in Riga. From September 2019 to January 2020, he performed Ramiro in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole at Teatro Grande in Brescia, Teatro Fraschini in Pavia, Teatro Sociale in Como, and Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona, Italy. In October 2020, he made his debut simultaneously, performing the roles of Tonio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Slovenian National Opera. In February 2021, Mr. Jansons returned onstage in the role of Zurga in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, making his debut at Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo, Spain. In September 2021, he returned to Teatro Grande di Brescia to interpret Sonora in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, with subsequent performances in January 2022 at Teatro Fraschini di Pavia, Teatro Sociale di Como and Teatro Ponchielli di Cremona.
His recent engagements are baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana at Opéra de Saint-Etienne, France, in June 2022; Renato in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera at Opera på Skäret in Sweden, July-August 2022; baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with Santa Barbara Symphony, as eponymous characters in Verdi's Macbeth at Opéra de Saint-Etienne, France, in June, and in Rigoletto at Opera på Skäret in Sweden in July-August 2023.
Has worked with the following esteemed conductors: Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, Daniel Oren, Daniele Callegari, Stefano Ranzani, Lawrence Foster, Antonello Allemandi, Isaac Karabtchevsky, Asher Fisch, Philippe Augin, Stefan Anton Reck and Pierre Vallet. The stage directors he has worked with include Gianfranco De Bosio, Lamberto Puggelli, Peter Stein, Giancarlo del Monaco, Emilio Sagi, Jean Louis Grinda, Günter Krämer, Andrei Serban, Shen Wei, Davide Livermore, Yoshi Oida, Guy Montavon and Dieter Kaegi.
Mr. Jansons covered Rolando Panerai and Juan Pons as Gianni Schicchi in 2011 at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and Leo Nucci as Rigoletto in the 2012 production at Teatro Regio di Parma.